Promise Series Side-Stories
by Reader115
Summary: A place to keep the fun and sometimes serious side-stories for the Promise series. These will be in no particular or chronological order. Warning: Fluff and Tcest (RaphxLeo). I don't own the turtles.
1. Flower

**A/N** : I left poor Miwa all pregnant at the end of the series, so I felt like this had to be the first one-shot side story.

* * *

 _"WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?"_

There was absolute stillness from the four turtles in the room with her before Mikey broke the silence.

"Which part?" Mikey asked, tipping his head at Miwa right as her face scrunched up in pain. "The having a baby part or the having the baby at home without drugs part?"

Miwa growled at him, which Leo thought was rather impressive considering she appeared to be holding her breath. They all watched as her face gradually smoothed out and she began pacing alongside her bed once again.

"Where is Sam?" she asked.

"He's on his way," Donnie said, suddenly regretting the decision to leave Sam behind at the lab, left to hoof it here on his own.

She stopped pacing and tensed again as another contraction began to build from the base of her back. The pain wrapped its way around her middle and she was quickly losing the ability to talk and breathe and stand all at the same time. "Why isn't he here now? You guys made it," she said between clenched teeth.

"Yeah, but we're faster than everyone else," Raph said.

She bit back a painful groan as the contraction crested. It was more intense than anything she'd ever felt before and she couldn't focus on anything but the pain as she waited and waited for the contraction to loosen its hold over her. When this one finally did, she could feel herself getting frantic.

"I can't do this," she said to her turtle brothers. They were doing their best to stay out of her way as she paced, but weren't offering any actual assistance. "It just doesn't even make sense that _this_ ," she waved her hands over her enormous belly, "is going to fit out of _there_!" she waved her hand a little lower than her stomach. "Right? Right? I mean, how does that even work?!" She watched their bewildered expressions as they began to look to each other. Possibly for an answer but she realized that they may have also been silently communicating an exit strategy.

"D?" Mikey finally asked, his big blue eyes wider than ever.

"I'm not – no - no way, Mikey," Donnie said, throwing his hands up and moving away from Miwa as if she were about to force him to give them all an anatomy lesson.

"We don't really know much about childbirth," Leo said, trying to keep his tone gentle. "Suzu is on her way with your doctor."

Since Miwa had opted for a private home birth, which would allow the majority of her family, especially her father, the chance to meet the baby right after it was born, they had been left with the problem of who was going to deliver the baby. And since they couldn't get a human doctor or midwife into the apartment with a bunch of mutant relatives all sitting in the main room, Suzu had thankfully come up with the idea of bringing in a doctor from her home dimension.

"Not fast enough," Miwa said. She held her breath as the pain began again.

"We could try meditation," Leo offered. "Maybe breathing through the-,"

"Don't be cute, Leo," Miwa growled.

Leo shot bewildered eyes to Raph and then to Mikey and Donnie. He got confused shoulder shrugs in response. Although they'd all been excited to be nearby while their new family member was being born, they hadn't counted on being at all responsible for taking care of Miwa during the process. They'd rushed to her apartment in their excitement when they got the call that she was in labor, but now Leo wondered how wise it had been to rush.

Leo looked to Raph again, silently asking him what they should do.

"Don't look at me," Raph said. "I'm sure I know less about all this than any of you. And between the two us," he said with a smirk, "I'm pretty sure yer the one who'd be carryin the babies."

"Me?!"

"Total compliment," Raph said. "Ya handle pain better than me."

"I'm pretty sure my track record shows that my coping method for pain includes a coma."

"I'm not sure that's a coping mechanism," Donnie said with a frown. "I don't recommend a coma, Miwa."

Miwa rolled her eyes and continued to pace.

"How funny would Leo be with a big belly, though?" Mikey asked. "Imagine him running through a kata like that."

"Miwa's been doing it," Donnie said.

"Yeah, but imagine _Leo_ doing it," Mikey said with another chuckle, egged on when he saw Raphael try to hide a grin.

Miwa stared at her ridiculous brothers before immediately ordering them all out of her bedroom.

Leo gratefully began herding the others out and had almost escaped into the main room himself when he heard Miwa call him back.

 _So close_ , he thought to himself before turning and facing her again.

"I can't do this, Leo," she said, pitifully.

He was about to give her a placating smile while still trying to back out of the room shell-first when he noticed that she looked scared. Genuinely scared. So he decided to ignore his discomfort and took a few willing steps back into the room.

"I'm sure you can, Miwa," he said softly. "I mean, I don't know the specifics, but I'm pretty sure women have been doing -,"

"No," she waved a hand at him. "Not that part."

"Oh thank God," Leo said, letting his shoulders sink a little in relief.

"The part that comes _after_. The mom part, Leo. Why did I think this was a good idea?"

She paused her pacing once again as another contraction began to build. "I didn't have a mom. I didn't have a real dad. I have no idea how to be a parent." She grit out the last words as the contraction, stronger even than the last, took over.

Leo watched her tense and struggle. He realized he may get a black eye for his efforts, but he took a step towards her and quickly assessed where she was tensing the most. His hand moved to her lower back where he applied pressure and watched the instant reaction as her muscles began to slightly relax.

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to breathe through these things," he murmured.

She released the breath she had been holding and began panting out quick exhales as the contraction finally began to subside.

"I've watched you with Akito and Machi for years, Miwa," Leo said, keeping his tone low. "You're a natural with them."

"A natural _aunt_."

"A natural as someone who loves them and would do anything for them," Leo asserted. "And that's how you'll be when this little one gets here."

"Sam is going to be a natural," Miwa said, glancing at a picture she had of herself with her cute redheaded husband where it hung on their bedroom wall.

"Which is great, because you're not going to be doing this alone," Leo said. "And you know that our father and any of the rest of us will be over here in a second if you need anything." He watched her as she automatically nodded, but could see she still carried doubt. "I swear, Miwa, as soon as you see this baby, all of these worries are going to disappear."

She lifted her face to his, her expression fierce as she challenged him to say something to make her truly believe him. "How can you be so sure?"

He could see that she was counting on him. She was willing to believe this if only he could show her that he truly believed it himself.

"Cause it's what we do as parents," Leo asserted. "Look, it was a little different with Akito since he was already six years old and I had to switch gears from being his teacher to being his father. But with Machi," he paused and shook his head with a grin. "I loved Machi as _mine_ since the first moment I laid eyes on her. And I was in a lot of pain at the time, so very similar situation," he said, waving one of his hands between the two of them.

" _Not similar_ ," she growled at him.

He grinned at her disapproval of his comparison as he stepped forward to apply pressure to her back again.

"Breathe," he said in a low tone, and then waited until she was attempting to do so before he began speaking again. "It was easy to accept my new role as a father, especially with Raphael's help."

"You've been good dads because you had a good dad," she said once the contraction subsided and she could speak again.

But Leo shook his head, secretly happy to hear that the resistance disappearing from her voice. "You're going to love this baby, Miwa," he said. "And the best part is going to be that this baby is going to love you right back."

Miwa's eyes filled with tears and she moved to sit down on the edge of her bed. She glanced over at her doorway and found Raphael there leaning against the doorframe.

"Get in here," she said to him, "but not a word about the crying."

"What crying?" Raph asked with a smile.

"Listen, I want you two to promise me right now that if something were to ever happen to me and Sam, that you'll take care of this baby, okay?"

"Promise," Raphael said without hesitation.

"Of course," Leo said as well, moving in again to put pressure on her back as he recognized the signs of an oncoming contraction.

"You and Sam together are gonna do great," Raph said, chiming into the conversation he had walked in on.

"You think?" she asked, not daring to make eye contact with the red-masked turtle.

"Of course. He'll make sure to dig out the shuriken ya try to sneak into the kid's lunchbox and you'll make sure he doesn't blow up the school with any crazy science fair experiments."

She would've laughed if she could've, but under the circumstances, he only got a glare for his efforts.

"I'm here, I'm here," Sam said, rushing into the room.

Miwa growled in response and noticed the noise was more impressive when she wasn't actively holding her breath.

"I did try to get here faster by asking Donatello to carry me on his shell but he refused," Sam said with a smile.

"Not funny time," she grit out to him.

"She's been shootin down our jokes too, Sam," Raph said.

Leo grabbed one of Sam's hands and said, "Here," as he switched spots with him and pushed Sam's hand into the pressure point he'd found on Miwa's back to help relieve some of the pain. "And remind her to breathe."

"Wait, you guys leaving?" Sam asked, suddenly panicked himself at the thought of being solely responsible.

"You'll be fine," Raph said with a smirk.

"That's right," Leo said as he pushed Raph towards the door. "Teamwork you two."

"Aren't you members of this team?" Sam called out before grinning sheepishly at Miwa's glare.

But the two turtles ignored him and managed to successfully escape to the main room.

Once there, Raph sent Leo a lopsided grin. "Okay, fine," he said in his most put-upon voice. "I guess _I'd_ carry em since you make such a good birthing coach."

"Very funny," Leo said, dryly. "You could've come to rescue me sooner you jerk," he said as he poked a finger into the center of Raph's plastron.

"Nah, she needed ya," Raph said, batting Leo's finger away before pulling him into a hug.

* * *

Miwa sat on the sidelines of the dojo, her own father seated next to her, and watched the little girl run through her first ever complete kata.

Miwa's eyes teared up as she watched her five-year old daughter. Leo had been right, the smug turtle. The moment she'd set eyes on Hana, she'd known more love than she ever thought possible. She truly understood why her father looked at her the way he did. And she'd learned fast over the past few years how sweetly painful and wonderful it was to have her heart walking around outside her body.

Hana looked like a determined little warrior right now, but Miwa could easily picture her in her dance class tutu, parading around the house covered in flour after an experiment gone wrong in their kitchen. She thought of being cuddled together for bedtime stories. Of Sam making up goofy songs with her as they walked down the New City sidewalks on their way to school. Of the valentine Hana had brought home from school made out to _mommy and daddy_.

Miwa had felt like a true member of the Hamato clan for many years before Hana was born, but she realized how solid that bond truly was as she watched her own child play in the sand with the clan's other children every summer. And Hana loved being the baby of the family. She'd follow Akito and Violet until they'd tickle her into the ground at every Sunday night family dinner. She'd sit still and quiet as Machi and Shadow brushed and braided her hair at every opportunity. And she's happily build a pillow fort with Gabe if he agreed to sit in it with her and use different funny voices to read stories.

When the last step of the kata had been completed, the little girl's honey-colored eyes lifted to her sensei and Leo watched as she beamed up at him. He grinned back, and Miwa could see clear adoration in his eyes for his little niece.

"I think you're the youngest Hamato to ever master that kata, Hana," Leo said.

Hana jumped up and down, her little dark pigtails bouncing with her, as she listened to the praise. She turned to look at her mother and grandfather and received smiles from them as well as Miwa wiped away the stupid, wonderful tears from her eyes.

"I had to force her to bed last night," Miwa murmured to her father. "She wanted to keep practicing."

Master Splinter chuckled as he pictured the scene.

* * *

A/N: Hana means flower in Japanese

When I was looking for a name for this little girl, and saw that this one meant flower, I immediately pictured Yoshi waking up outside his family's burning dojo, with the belief that both his wife and daughter were dead, holding a flower in his palm. Maybe that's a sad image for this baby's life to begin with, but considering where they all are now as a family, it seemed more like a happy full circle.


	2. Purple Lace

It just wasn't fair that not only did men age better than women, but that her particular husband managed to not show any signs of aging at all. If anything, he was even more solid now, in a muscular, irresistible sort of way.

Damn him.

Sadie stared at the lines she could see around her eyes and mouth. _Laugh lines_ , Donnie called them. She frowned at them, which was probably counterproductive if it was true that frowning produced wrinkles.

And she may not have been gifted with curls like Woody, but her hair was just as blonde and she was thankful for it. Because it hid silver strands.

She'd never paid much attention to how she'd looked when she was younger, but now she let her eyes travel further down the bathroom mirror to examine the purple lace-lined lingerie she'd picked out earlier in the week. Since she'd never been pregnant, she didn't have any of the post-pregnancy body woes that April and Miwa discussed during some of their girls' night out dinners. Of course, considering the trim figures they maintained thanks to the workouts they endured in the dojo, Sadie had a hard time seeing what either of the two women had to complain about. Although, they'd probably say the same thing about her. But she stared at her figure under the lace anyway and found herself hoping that Donnie hadn't been noticing his wife's ridiculous aging.

She lit a couple candles and turned off the lights before sitting on the bed to wait for Donnie to finish putting Gabriel to bed. She looked down at herself and then rolled her eyes for her continued self-consciousness. She watched their doorknob turn and then felt a flutter of nerves as Donatello filled their doorway.

She watched him take in the darkness and the candles before he quickly moved into the room and shut the door behind him. He pressed his shell against the back of the door and stood completely still as his breath caught.

She could see his brown eyes moving slowly over her before she heard a churr fill the room. The noise, a deep involuntary purr that she had always delighted in pulling out of him, immediately warmed her.

She felt a blush rise to her cheeks as he continued to stare at her as if she were a feast. As if he were about to devour her. And she suddenly kicked herself for being worried in the first place.

She smiled softly at him and received his adorable gap-toothed smile in return.

Damn him.


	3. Instinct

**A/N** : Some of you may have already read this chapter (it can be found within the story "Discoveries"). And I apologize, but I really like this little story and since I started labeling each chapter within these side-series stories, I thought it would be nice to bring this one out and put it someplace easy to find so I can re-read it without digging through "Discoveries" to find it.

But I will say I decided not to add this to the one-shot series until I had an actual new chapter to offer up as well. So if you'd like to read something new, please skip ahead to the next chapter, which contains completely new Raph and Leo fluff.

* * *

Raphael set the weight bar back in place and sat up on his bench to grab a drink of water. And to enjoy the view that was Leonardo running through some katas on his own. Everyone else had been dismissed from morning training and Raph had decided to stay behind and do some weight training before work. Bonus to being one of garage owners was not worrying about being late.

He glanced down at the bench between his legs. Donnie had stocked the dojo with new items when he'd had the room constructed, and while he'd appreciated the new punching bag, Raph had insisted on bringing up his old, albeit tattered, weight bench from their sewer lair's dojo. He'd been sixteen years old when he'd been called into the dojo one night and all three of his brother had presented him with this very bench. It was weeks later when Raph was helping Donnie carry some big heavy piece of equipment home from the junkyard that Donnie had let it slip that the bench was really just from Leo, even though Leo had made it seem like the gift was from all three of them. Donnie told him that he and Leo had been on a scavenge run when Leo found the bench. And Leo had talked Donnie into helping him carry it home instead of a large piece of steel that Donnie had wanted to bring home that day. Donnie had continued talking as they walked through the sewer tunnels, telling Raph how Leo had buffed the seat and covered the few tears in the fabric with duct tape himself, not realizing that Raph's eyes were growing wider as Donnie spoke.

After he and Donnie had returned to the lair, Raph had headed to the dojo to lift weights on his new bench. He couldn't stop thinking about the possible meaning of Leo's gift. He wasn't currently in his line of sight, but he knew Leo was in the dojo training as well. A year ago if they'd both been training in the dojo at the same time, the room would've been filled with jokes or a discussion or at least a comfortable silence. But Raphael knew the eerie silence that now filled the room was his own fault. He was the one who had destroyed their relationship. He thought about the decision often. But at this point, still thought it was for the best. For Leo. He sat up once he replaced the weight bar after his final set and spotted Leo running through a kata with his twin katana near the big tree. Raph had sat frozen and watched Leo move gracefully through what appeared to be a pretty advanced and pretty deadly set of steps.

Raph's mouth had gone dry. And his stomach had squirmed. A shiver ran across his shoulders and down his arms. He was young, but he knew what those sensations meant. He wanted his hands on Leonardo. He wanted to rub himself against him and he wanted to know what it felt like to have those impressive muscular legs wrapped around him.

Once Leo had swung a final swipe with his blades, he had bowed to an imaginary opponent before turning towards Raphael. He had seemed startled to find Raph watching him and Raph noticed that the confidence Leo had had a moment before disappeared and Leo's eyes ducked down as he sheathed the katana and turned away from Raph to get a drink and grab a towel for his face.

Raph had tried to pull up anger as he stared at Leo's shell. Anger for any reason. Anything at all. Anything that would keep him from marching across the dojo, spinning Leo back towards him and kissing him. He'd stood from the weight bench and his hands shook slightly. That's when Mikey had bounced into the dojo and began pleading with Raph to play a video game with him. Raph had swatted at Mikey and glanced back at Leo. Leo still stood with his shell to them, but he suddenly began to pull his tatami mat out as if preparing for meditation.

Raph had gone out to play video games with Mikey. He didn't follow his gut instinct on that day or on any of the days in the three years that followed that day. He'd left Leo alone. Physically alone, but emotionally alone as well.

His eyes focused on Leo now in the present with a sharp intensity as Leo stepped and swung seamlessly through a well-known routine. He watched Leo's muscles shift with each move and felt the familiar squirm as desire began to pool in his stomach. He stood and crossed the room without thinking about it.

Leo turned and found Raphael suddenly right in front of him. He smiled as he saw Raph's darkened green eyes and listened to his breathing, the inhales and exhales already quickened by his need. Leo's own inhalations brought him Raphael's scent, already richer. Leo dropped his precious katana on the matted floor and stepped directly in Raph's arms without a word.

Raphael pulled Leo into him, keeping his grip strong on Leo's upper arms, and covered his mouth in a hard kiss, which Leo answered back with equally strong force. Raph kept their lips together but let go of Leo's arms only so he could reach the back of his thighs and lift Leo up into his arms. He churred at the feel of solid muscle against his fingers as he gripped Leo's legs and began walking them across the room. Leo churred in response and wrapped his legs tightly around Raph's shell as he let his fingers press into Raph's biceps.

"Raph," Leo moaned out, rubbing his lower plastron against Raphael. "Strong - you're so strong, Raphael," he husked out and moved his mouth to press kisses to Raphael's face.

Raphael could only groan in response to Leo's praises as he kicked Leo's meditation room door closed with his foot as he sealed them in the private room. Once inside, he lowered Leo back to stand on his own two feet and then stood still himself for a moment. He gave Leo a small smile, one that only Leo ever got to see, and waited.

"Okay," Leo breathed out, accepting Raph's offer.

Raph watched as Leo began to circle him and it was the last thing he saw before his mask was twisted, blocking his vision. Leo's hands were on him immediately, though, squeezing over his arms, trailing over his tail, running down his plastron. Raph couldn't even guess where Leo's hands were going to be next, he just let each sensation hit him and groaned with each press of Leo's fingers.

"Leo," he moaned out and his mouth was immediately covered by Leo's mouth before Leo pulled him down onto the matted floor with him. Raph went down on his shell and felt Leo climb on top of him in order to kiss him again. Then Leo's weight disappeared and Raph resisted the urge to remove his mask so he could see where his mate had gone. He had his answer a few moments later as Leo's warm tongue pressed into the cartilage of his slit. "Jeezus Leo," he said in surprise before he dropped down for him with a groan.

Leo inhaled deeply and let Raphael's scent fill his nose as his length filled his mouth. He pulled Raphael towards his throat and watched as Raphael writhed and shifted beneath him before he pressed a lube-covered finger into Raph's entrance.

Raph's hips jerked upwards at the unexpected wetness, and he smiled at the thought that Leo had left him before only to grab the lube they secretly kept stashed in this room. He began to churr out loud moans and curses, and while he'd always prefer being able to see Leo, he let himself enjoy the sensation of focusing only on the feeling of Leo's mouth wrapped tightly around his hard, full length as Leo's fingers massaged his insides.

He felt Leo churr as well and it was that, above all the other wonderful things that Leo was currently doing to his body, it was the knowledge that Leo truly enjoyed what he was doing to Raphael as much as he did that pushed Raph immediately over the edge with a loud shout of Leo's name.

Leo climbed back up the emerald body once Raphael had reached his release and pressed more kisses to that handsome, panting face. Raph's fingers found his plastron and slid down to rub insistently against Leo's bulging slit, pulling Leo into a pumping rhythm with his fist when Leo dropped down.

"Love you," Leo gasped out to him before pulling away from Raphael's hand in order to press himself into his mate's ready body.

Raph heard Leo's words and his mind returned to his earlier thoughts. Returned to the years when he'd missed his best friend. He was suddenly happy Leo couldn't see his tear-filled eyes as he wrapped his arms tightly around Leo's shoulders as Leo thrust into him and repeated praises for Raph's strong, beautiful body. Leo collapsed down on Raph's plastron with his own finish and, not trusting himself to get the mask lined up correctly with his currently shaky hands, he pulled Raph's mask clear off his face. He watched the green eyes he loved so much open and blink a few times before Raph focused on him.

"Aishiteru," Raph whispered to him. He paused for a moment before he continued in a whisper, "I missed you."

Leo tipped his head at Raphael in question. "The blindfold?"

"No, ya dork," Raph said, huffing out a laugh, despite himself, before turning serious again. "From the day I pushed you away from me to the day you forgave me," Raph said, ducking his eyes before bravely meeting Leo's again. "I missed you. Every day."

Leo cupped Raph's face and kissed him again before he nuzzled his face into Raphael's neck. "Where did that thought even come from?" he murmured, letting his lips press against Raph's skin as he spoke.

Raph shrugged, unwilling to give voice to his earlier memories. He wasn't exactly proud of them. And he selfishly didn't want Leo focusing on that period of time. "I just want you to know how much I love ya, Leo. How much I've always loved ya. How much I will always love ya."

Leo lifted his head and let his blue eyes meet his best friend's eyes. His mate's eyes. His husband's eyes.

"I know exactly how you feel," he said back to him with a smile before he kissed him again. "I love you too, Raphie. Always have. Always will."


	4. Familiar Comfort

He wasn't sure Leo knew. How much he loved holding onto him while they slept. And if it wasn't for his body's own need to rest, he was pretty sure he could lay awake and listen to Leo's deep inhales and exhales all night.

Perhaps it was even his favorite part about their island, since Leo rarely napped back in New York. But out here, Raph could easily tire Leo out in their hammock up in the trees. And afterwards, with a satisfied look in his eyes, Leo would easily submit to a midday nap.

Raphael yawned as well, but refused to close his eyes. He knew it wasn't that he preferred Leo asleep to awake. So, he tried to decide what it was that he liked so much as he tightened his arms around Leo. It could be their actual physical positions. With Leo wedged into Raph's side and his top leg tangled in with Raph's legs, Raph had the benefit of having just about as much contact with Leo's body as he could. Really, the only way they could be any closer than they were at this moment _didn't_ involve sleep and Raph stifled a chuckle at the thought as he let his eyes roam over Leo's muscular legs.

And Leo's face was, as always, pressed into his neck. He'd asked once what it was that Leo liked so much about his neck. In response, Leo's eyes had gone soft as he smiled and murmured something about enjoying Raph's scent. And although it meant he couldn't actually see Leo's face as he slept, Raphael couldn't complain. After all, Leo had begun pressing his face into Raph's neck when they were pretty small. And it pleased Raphael to know something so simple from him could provide comfort to Leo.

And maybe familiarity was what he enjoyed most. Because familiarity provided comfort. Certainly having his arms wrapped around Leo, providing Leo with warmth and the strength of his arms, provided Raphael comfort as well.

And as long as they were here in these positions, Leo was safe. As was he. And they were together.

"Why are you still awake, Raphie?" Leo murmured before pressing his lips against the skin on Raphael's beautiful, emerald neck. Raph had encouraged him to nap, so he was surprised to notice that his mate was still wide awake.

"I was just thinking that I want eternity to look like this."

The hammock, and Raphael's arms, didn't allow for much movement, but Leo shifted anyway so that he could meet those green eyes.

"I'm sure it's going to."

Raphael's mouth twisted up in a lopsided grin as he saw the teasing glint in those blue eyes. "Promise?"

"Of course," Leo said, pressing his lips to Raph's eager mouth for a kiss before saying, "because we're already there."

* * *

A/N: I just finished writing another story (Keeping Leo) and while it was still a Leo X Raph story, it wasn't THIS Leo and Raph, so this was definitely a fun way to get back into the Promise series mindset. Thanks for reading!


	5. Glass

**A/N** : I think I left this a bit unresolved in "Discoveries".

Woody is feeling good in his recovery. And its time for him to push an issue with his turtle.

* * *

As much as he liked to think of himself as a master of sleeping in, his curly-haired human put him to shame. To the point where he'd even asked Donnie once if humans required more sleep than turtles – _Donnie's reply was no_ – because Woody could _sleep_. But a sleeping Woody meant Mikey got to lie in bed and stare at him all he wanted without it being creepy. Well, not too creepy anyway.

He reached silently forward and did his best to get a blonde curl to loop around one of his large green fingers without disturbing Woody. Woody was pretty. He'd scowl at Mikey if Mikey said that to him out loud. But it was true. He was curly blonde hair and big brown eyes and a voice that made Mikey's insides spark and twist _pretty._

Given Woody's love of sleep, Mikey wasn't sure how Woody managed to get up so early on the mornings he had PT with Leo. Although, it was probably the thought of leaving Leo up there waiting on him that prevented Woody from hitting snooze on those mornings. Mikey might not always look at Leo as the clan leader, but he knew Woody did, and Leo _was_ taking time out of his own schedule to help Woody out. And while Mikey knew the PT was helping, he was glad today wasn't a PT day, because it meant Woody was still here in bed with him.

He froze when Woody shifted in his sleep, but looped another curl around his finger when it was clear that Woody wasn't about to wake up.

Growing up, his father and brothers had always said he had too much energy. And a mind that wandered too often. Woody had never accused him of either. Of course, there was something about Woody that had always calmed him. And Woody had also always had a genuine interest in knowing where Mikey's mind had wandered. So he could go there too.

And he grinned as he realized that Woody had always been rather impressed with his energy levels. And at that thought, he let his eyes roam over his husband. Woody slept on his stomach and had his head turned towards Mikey. Their sheet came up around Woody's waist, leaving his back uncovered. It had never seemed right to Mikey that humans walked around with their spines so exposed. But it didn't mean he didn't appreciate the curve it created in Woody's back and his mind wandered to how nice it would be to run a finger along that curve now.

But he kept his fingers off Woody's back. Because he'd almost lost Woody this year. And if he wanted to feel icy cold, he'd just think about what it would've been like if Woody had never come home from the hospital. About how strange it would've been for the loudest of the turtles to end up in the quietest apartment. No Woody smiles. No one to share silly jokes with. No one to be there in the middle of the night when scary scenes from the past crept into his dreams.

Empty bed. Empty main room. Empty kitchen. He shuddered just thinking about it.

He had vowed that if Woody recovered and came home to him, that he would spend the rest of his life taking care of Woody. Of course, they'd basically said that exact thing to each other only a few months before Franklin, when they'd officially exchanged wedding vows. So, Mikey decided his deal with the universe would have to be more specific. And as he'd sat on a rooftop outside the hospital, waiting to hear how Woody's surgery had gone, he tried to think of something more substantial to offer.

He pulled his finger out of the blonde curls when Woody stirred again and Mikey realized he was waking up.

Woody smiled at Mikey as he felt those fingers move through his hair right before his eyes opened. He missed having Mikey's hands on him. He'd made a few advances towards Mikey that were subtly rebuffed with Mikey scampering off to make him food or get him a pillow. He had been pretty cranky in his early recovery so he didn't blame Mikey. But he thought he'd been pretty cheery these last couple weeks. And yet, Michelangelo was still avoiding him.

He wasn't sure how to convince Mikey that he was recovered. But he desperately wanted Mikey to treat him the way he did before Franklin. He'd managed to get Mikey to give him real Mikey hugs again, but he'd made very little progress after that. It was frustrating. In more ways than one.

With that thought in mind, he shifted himself quickly, and knocked Mikey back on his shell so that he could land on top of Mike's plastron. He pressed his mouth to Mikey's mouth before Mikey could protest about him hurting his scar by moving too fast, something Mikey had actually said to him. It was strange to think Mikey actually thought that was a possibility considering Mike was in no way unfamiliar with scars. Woody had once spent an entire afternoon tracing all of Michelangelo's scars with his tongue after all.

Mikey's hands landed on his shoulders and Woody nearly sighed in relief when he felt Mike pulling him closer instead of pushing him away. He wanted to move more of himself on top of Mike, but he didn't want Mike to notice his shifting movements and immediately think he was uncomfortable. Because that would attract the attention of Caretaker Mike. And Caretaker Mike would stop touching him and offer him a meal instead. And there was only one thing he was interested in putting in his mouth at that point and Mike's delicious cooking wasn't it. So he pushed his tongue into Mike's mouth to distract him as he shifted up Michelangelo's body. He'd always loved how smooth and cool Mike's plastron felt against his skin and he reveled in that feeling now as his chest slid further up Mike's armored chest. And he practically moaned as he felt one of Mike's hands slide down his back.

Which was apparently the wrong thing to do, because instead of receiving a churr in response to the sound he made, Mikey quickly sat up, twisting Woody gently as he went, and in the end, Woody ended up sitting next to him on the bed instead of in Mikey's lap.

Woody watched as Mikey's big blue eyes scanned over him for damage.

"You okay?" Mikey asked.

Mikey was a little out of breath, although not as much as Woody would've liked. He nodded back to him in response.

"Why aren't we kissing right now?" Woody asked. He was tired of dancing around this issue. And subtle didn't typically work on Mike anyway.

"Its time to make you breakfast," Mikey said, pushing the sheet away from himself as he avoided Woody's eyes.

"Mikey," Woody breathed out. "You know that Franklin caused the headaches and seizures. And they took Franklin out. I'm fine now. I don't even have stitches anymore."

"I'm not an idiot. Of course I know all that," Mikey said, hopping out of their bed.

Woody's mouth dropped open at the clear irritation in Mikey's voice.

"Mike-,"

"Plus I still have food prep to finish before morning practice."

"Michelangelo," Woody said, earnestly.

"Its fine, dude," Mikey said, and he managed to shoot Woody a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes before he escaped their bedroom entirely.

Woody sighed in frustration. Then he was up, pulling on sweatpants and stomping his way out into their kitchen where he found Mikey pulling plates down from their cupboard.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Mikey asked, keeping his shell to him.

Woody stood in the middle of their kitchen and remained silent. He waited until Mikey finally turned to look at him before answering.

"You."

"It's a little late for you to tell me you have a taste for turtle, dude," Mikey said, doing his best to make a joke. He watched as Woody approached him and didn't stop the human from trapping him against their counter.

"I definitely have a taste for turtle, Mikester."

Mikey felt his resolve crumbling at the sound of Woody's nickname for him. But he gasped and quickly pushed Woody gently back a step when he felt Woody's mouth on his neck. He could see the immediate hurt in Woody's eyes and was about to squeeze his human's shoulders before he quickly dropped his hands to his sides.

"Look, Michelangelo, if you -," Woody paused, ducking his head down before forcing the next words out, "- I mean, I know this whole thing has been hard and if you want to separate -,"

"No," Mikey said and this time he did grab Woody's shoulders in order to squeeze him. Hard. "I never want to be away from you, Woodrow."

Woody lifted his eyes and saw more seriousness on Mikey's face than he'd probably ever seen before.

" _Never_ , dude," Mikey said.

Woody had to admit, he was relieved. Just the few seconds that that thought had occurred to him was enough torture to last him a lifetime. But he tipped his head at Mikey.

"So, you want to stay together," Woody said, the relief evident in his voice. "But we're never going to touch each other again?"

Hearing it directly out of Woody's mouth like that did make the idea sound incredibly terrible. Still, he said, "I'm not going to hurt you." His hands were still wrapped tightly around Woody's shoulders and he loosened them so that he could rub a thumb back and forth over Woody's upper arms.

"Ignoring me is hurting me, Mike," Woody said. He sighed in frustration and pushed Mikey's hands off his shoulders before taking a few steps away from him. "Look, would it be easier for you if I just move my stuff into the spare bedroom?" He watched Mikey's face twist as if in pain. "If that's also a no, then you've got to help me out here, Mike. I have no idea what's wrong."

Mikey moved across the kitchen to where Woody had gone and quickly pulled his human into his plastron for a tight hug. "When I was waiting for you to come out of surgery, I made a deal with whoever was listening. If you came out safe and healthy, then I'd make sure nothing ever hurt you ever again, including me."

Woody pulled back to meet Mikey's eyes. Mikey's sad and scared eyes. He felt like kicking himself for not seeing it before. He could only imagine how scared Mikey had been sitting outside the hospital, _in the cold_ , dodging wolves, and waiting to hear if Woody even survived such a dangerous surgery.

"And I just know the second something happens to you, that _Son of Franklin_ will make an appearance."

Woody raised his hands and cupped Mikey's face before leaning in to kiss him. Mikey returned the kiss and tightened his arms around Woody.

"If our roles were reversed, I would've done the same thing to get you back, Mikester," Woody murmured as he nuzzled his face against Mikey's face. "But when have you ever hurt me?"

Mikey let go of him only to hold up his hands for Woody to see. "Look at me, dude. I'm no Raphael, but I could still crush you with these hands. And you can't tell me that sleeping with me is any different than having a large rock in bed with you."

Woody chuckled at the mental image, but quickly added. "I'm not made of glass, Mike. And those well-trained, ninja fingers have never hurt me. And you are certainly _not_ like sleeping with a rock." He let his eyes roam over Mikey and then said, "After all, I've never had the urge to rub myself against a rock."

Mikey watched Woody's eyes move down his body and back up again and swallowed hard, doing his best to fight off a churr. "They said to be careful with you," he whispered.

"And you have been," Woody said. He didn't want to scare Mikey off, so he moved his hands to what he considered a safe spot up on Mikey's arms. "You've been bending over backwards to take care of me."

Mikey eyed Woody. He'd almost lost him to that stupid Franklin. And again, a few moments ago, he suddenly realized.

"Well, I am pretty flexible," Mikey said slowly.

Mikey's response had Woody's face splitting into a wide grin. Encouraged by both the words and the sudden deep tone in Mikey's voice, Woody let one of his hands travel down Mikey's shell until he found the tail he liked so much. And this time, Mikey did let the churr roll up his throat. The noise filled Woody with intense relief.

With Michelangelo by his side, he had recovered from Franklin. And now it was time to thank his sweet, funny turtle for taking such good care of him.

"Prove it," Woody murmured to him.


	6. Marked

Forget ninja senses. Michelangelo's _husband senses_ were going off.

He leaned his shell against the counter in their food truck kitchen and listened to Mary Beth Shuster talk to Woody. Yes, she was a regular. And yes, she was a reporter interested in highlighting their food truck in an upcoming article. Which, he had to admit, was booyakashaaa cool.

But Mikey was also pretty damn sure that the reporter woman was currently flirting with Woody.

"Just be warned that you will have to share your secrets for the article," Mary Beth said.

"What kind of secrets?" Woody asked. He had hopped out of the truck to pull in their dinner menu when Mary Beth had arrived. They parked on this particular corner on Mondays and Wednesdays for the dinner rush and she usually stopped by at least one of those days to place an order for a small group from her office. She had talked to him about promoting the food truck in an article back at the beginning of the year, but then Franklin had arrived and Woody had disappeared for his surgery and recovery.

And Woody's disappearance had not gone unnoticed by Mary Beth. She had asked the college students who had been hired to run the food truck over the past couple months where Woody was and all she got in return was a shoulder shrug. And when she decided to try to contact him directly, she realized she didn't even know Woody's last name. So she went on a search through city records until she finally found the food truck's permits, which were under the name Woodrow Hamato. She hit a dead end after that, though. She couldn't find an address and the only phone number listed consistently went straight to voice mail. And so she'd been left to wait. Until this week, that is, when Woody and his bright smile finally reappeared in the food truck window.

Woody was back because he'd finally received the go ahead from his physician to drive again. He was thrilled to be out of their apartment building and enjoying full on spring time weather. And it felt pretty good to have all their regulars excited to see him. Most people asked where he'd been and quickly accepted his vague explanation of a health issue. Only Mary Beth had pushed for more details, which he assumed was part of her reporter nature. But when he gave in and told her about Franklin, he was surprised to have her scold him for not calling her to help him.

Mikey scowled at her insistence. He had been taking care of Woody after all. _Perfect care_ of Woody. Even more so recently since Woody had insisted that Mikey _stop_ keeping his hands to himself.

He listened as Woody assured Mary Beth that he had been well taken care of throughout the process, but she continued to lightly reprimand him anyway and then had insisted that she at least be allowed to help him out by writing the article they had previously discussed.

"I'll just have questions about your background," Mary Beth said. "Where the idea for the food truck came from. How you and the chef -,"

"Michelangelo," Woody said, unable to say the turtle's name without a smile. "My husband."

" – how you two met. How he managed to snag you so tightly," she said with a nervous chuckle that made Mike's husband sensor sound again. "I'll need to talk to him for the article as well of course."

Mikey glared at the counter he was wiping down and telepathically urged Woody to _get back in the truck_ so they could head home already. He listened as Woody responded with the answer he always gave when someone asked to meet the chef.

"Michelangelo is pretty shy," Woody said. He could say the line as instructed by Leo, but Leo couldn't keep the goofy grin off Woody's face as he said. After all, Mikey couldn't be shy if he tried.

"So I guess getting him in a picture with you in the truck would be out of the question?"

"Definitely out of the question," Woody said. He turned and pushed their menu stand into the order station and locked up the back of the truck.

"Well, as long as I get a picture of _you_ in the truck."

Mikey's hand stilled as he listened. He wasn't prone to growling, but he could feel the urge to do so now.

Mikey had listened to plenty of customers flirt with Woody over the years. Woody _was_ the face of the food truck and Mikey had never been particularly bothered by it. Because most people kept it simple. And the flirting didn't last longer than their wait for their food before they were on their way.

But Mary Beth Shuster was taking it up a notch.

"Well the truck is really the main attraction," Woody hedged and Mikey did growl this time. Because Woody was clearly becoming uncomfortable and Mikey was trapped in the truck, unable to come to his rescue.

"Trust me, your face would certainly draw in customers all by itself," Mary Beth said with a smile for Woody. "Although, I would love to see inside your truck, Woodrow."

 _Woodrow_. Mikey felt himself start to steam. He'd seen possessive Raphael over the years. After all, he was pretty sure he was never going to get the image of Usagi's bloody ear out of his brain. And he was also pretty sure that Mona being dragged to Machi's competition in the other dimension had been Leo putting his foot down about something. But he'd never felt such a possessive pull himself. Until this very moment.

"Or how about a ride-along? I could come over in the morning during food prep, help load the truck and then stick with you guys throughout the day. I'd write the article as a day in the life of," Mary Beth said, her face lighting up with excitement.

"Mike does almost all the food prep, so that wouldn't really work," Woody said. He moved around her on the sidewalk to walk to the front of the truck. "But if you want to bring a photographer, we can arrange a meeting place one morning before the lunchtime rush to get some shots of the truck." He opened the driver's side door and hoped she'd get the hint.

"Well I know you're busy most days through lunch and dinner, so maybe we can meet for breakfast one morning to go over the interview questions? Just you and me?"

"Sure," Woody said. He rattled off the food truck phone number, the one Donnie had made untraceable while also routing it to their personal T-phones, before shutting the door and starting the engine.

* * *

Woody parked in their underground parking lot and headed into the truck kitchen. Mikey usually had the entire kitchen clean before they even got home, leaving Woody to only help carry up the empty food prep containers to be washed in their impressive industrial-sized dishwasher. And while Woody found the containers stacked and ready to go, the kitchen was otherwise empty. Woody frowned as he exited the truck. Mikey was fast, but Woody hadn't heard the elevator doors to their building open or close. Nor could he imagine why Mikey would leave him behind.

"Mike?" he called out over the other cars in the parking lot.

A noise behind him had him slowly turning. He moved around Leo's car and then past Raph's motorcycle. He was about to pass Donnie's car when he was suddenly spun around and kissed hard by his favorite turtle.

Mikey wrapped one of his arms around Woody's back and pulled him in close as the fingers on his other hand began to move through Woody's curly hair. He moved his mouth down to Woody's neck and nipped at it gently.

"I like this game, Mike," Woody panted.

Mikey pulled away just so he could look at Woody. Woody's eyes were closed and his cheeks were pinked and there was already a small bruise forming on his neck from Mikey's teeth.

"No game," Mikey said, and he watched Woody's eyes pop open at the growl that he was also somewhat surprised to hear in his own voice. "I'm marking what's mine."

"All yours, Mikester," Woody whispered back as he felt his insides spark at the sight of a possessive Michelangelo. "Mark away."

Mikey grinned before he reached down to bite into Woody's neck again. He pushed his body forward until he had Woody pressed into the hood of Donnie's car.

* * *

"Buzzing," Woody muttered. He forced one eye open and grinned over at his turtle. Mike lay sprawled out on his plastron next to him and he reached over to poke Mike in the arm as his eyes shut again. "Somethin's buzzin."

Mikey muttered something in response and blindly moved his hand around on the floor next to their bed while his other arm reached out to pull Woody in closer to him.

"What up, D?" Mikey muttered once he managed to find his belt, retrieve his phone, and get his sleepy fingers to press the right button to answer the call.

Woody snickered a moment later as he heard Donnie's voice blast out of Mikey's T-phone.

"Michelangelo, _what_ did you do to my _CAR_?!"

* * *

 **A/N** : Thanks for the idea that sparked this chapter, StitcherBell – this one is dedicated to you


	7. Trust

"Pops, you wanna spar with me?" Akito asked.

Raph looked over to Leo and watched as Leo's eyes moved steadily over the new tablet Raphael had recently given him for his birthday, probably deeply invested in some new story. Leo waved a hand at him without looking up and Raph took it as decline to join them.

"Sure, bud," Raph said. "Let's head down to the beach." He turned to his brothers and nodded his head in the direction of the stairs as an invite to join them.

"Spar time," Mikey said with a grin as he pulled Woody up from the couch, "and you're going down, Woods."

" _Language_ , Mikester," Woody said as his eyes teased Michelangelo, "there's children around."

Leo glanced up at the two of them and quickly ducked his eyes back down to the story he was reading when he saw Mikey's eyes darken in Woody's direction.

"Yes, there _are_ children around," Donnie said, pushing both Mikey and Woody towards the stairs.

"What'd he say?" Gabe asked, trailing behind Donatello. He reached up and tugged on his dad's hand. "Was it a bad word?"

Donnie scooped Gabriel up into his arms and glared at his own smirking baby brother as he followed them down the stairs.

Casey watched the group head out without a backwards glance or an offer to join them. April watched too and finally spoke up.

"Why don't you go with them?" she asked Casey.

"Nah, I actually promised to go for a walk in the woods with Shadow after lunch anyway," Casey said. "Ready, kid?"

"Yup. Machi you want to come with us?" Shadow asked, heading towards the door.

"Sure!" Machi said, jumping up.

Casey stood as well, and although he tried to ignore it, he could see Leo visibly tense out of the corner of his eye.

"I'll go too," Leo said, standing to follow the girls down the stairs.

Casey tried not to groan out loud at the thought of Leo joining them. He knew he had a strange love-hate relationship with Leo. He and Leo had fought not just battles together, but wars together, making them brothers in arms. On top of that, Leo had played a key role in helping him escape from his abusive father. And Leo had also stepped up to protect April and Shadow from Stockman without even being asked. Of course, Leo had been friends with April before Casey had even met her. And Shadow was, of course, just as much April's daughter as his.

Regardless, Leo was part of his family. So he loved him.

But Leo was also the appointed leader of his family, which Casey didn't appreciate. Maybe it was his issue with authority, or that he just didn't see the point in having a family leader.

Casey's eyes darted to April, silently pleading with her to come too. But she only pursed her lips and shook her head slightly before turning back to her previous conversation with Sadie.

After he'd played such a major role in Usagi's trap to capture Leo, Casey reminded himself that he _was_ partially responsible for the strain in his relationship with the clan leader. Although, honestly, and he'd never admit this out loud to anyone, but he might have honestly tried a little harder to thwart Usagi's plan if the rabbit had been after anyone else. But it had been Leo Usagi wanted. And since Leo was the best fighter Casey knew, Casey kind of figured Leo would be fine. Plus, Leo and Usagi used to be pals, so how much harm would come to him? And how was Casey to know Usagi had some weird tech that would make Leo untraceable from Donnie's special Leo-finding machine?

Casey, and most of the rest of the clan, still hadn't heard what exactly had happened to Leo when Usagi had him in that other dimension. But Mikey did mention to Casey that Leo had come home in shock. Shaky. Spooked.

All words that Casey was pretty damn sure had never been used to describe Leonardo.

And of course, Mikey hadn't filled him in until after Casey had run into Leo in the hallway and offered a somewhat half-assed apology. If he had to do it over again, _even though Leo had quickly tried to brush off the apology Casey was trying to offer,_ but if he had to do it over again, he probably would've put a little more effort into it.

Because if he had, maybe Raphael wouldn't be ignoring him.

Casey's shoulders slumped as he followed Leo and their daughters down the stairs and into the backyard. Leo kept his eyes forward, although he was fully aware of the discomfort radiating off of the human who was insisting on walking two steps behind him instead of next to him, no matter how slow Leo moved his feet. The teenaged girls ran ahead of them through the trees, laughing and thankfully oblivious to the quiet tension between the two fathers that followed them.

The trees in this forest were old and impressively tall and Mikey had once described the vines lining them as looking like tinsel based on how they draped over all the branches and trunks. Leo and Machi left the human pair behind a couple times to scale the trees in races to the top and Machi grinned over at her dad often as they jumped from one tree to the next. His eyes had been wary when they started but she watched as he quickly noticed how easily her clawed hands could grip the tree bark and she was grateful that he was willing to focus on having fun with her instead of worrying about her safety.

Almost two hours had passed when Shadow finally complained that she was hot and wanted to go back so they could swim. Casey happily turned around and headed back in the direction of the house without a word. He noted that returning didn't take as long since Leo and Machi weren't taking them in random directions as they jumped through the trees like monkeys. They'd almost reached the break in the forest when Shadow and Machi suddenly took off in a sprint. They shouted thank yous over their shoulders to their dads as they headed for the beach.

Leo smiled fondly as he watched them go. He stepped over a large fallen tree as he continued towards the barely visible house, but turned to eye Casey when he realized the human had stopped walking completely.

"Casey?"

Casey stared at the sandy dirt and tree roots lining the ground in front of his feet as he mentally argued with himself to just keep his mouth shut. It was an argument he lost.

"Why'd you come out on this walk?" he asked, lifting his eyes up to Leo now that their daughters were gone

Leo's eyes narrowed at the harsh tone and the anger he could see in Casey's eyes.

"What?"

"Ya weren't gonna leave the house until Machi decided to join me and Shadow."

"Machi is my daughter," Leo said, his own tone of voice turning cold as Casey continued to glare at him. "And we know from experience these woods are not guaranteed to be safe."

"Exactly," Casey said, a triumphant note to his voice as he took a step closer to Leo. His own eyes narrowed further as he spoke. "So why don't ya just admit ya don't trust me to watch out for yer kid by myself?"

Leo blinked at Casey as he finally realized where Casey's anger was coming from. His eyes moved away from Casey and down to the forest floor as he realized that, although it had been done subconsciously, Casey had nailed the exact reason he joined this little field trip.

"I knew it," Casey growled over to him. He knew Leo well enough to know what those down-turned eyes meant. He turned and stalked a few feet away from Leo in order to lean his back against a tree with crossed arms.

Leo thought for a moment about why his first instinct was to join the group and his brain's response was to immediately flash images of himself chained to a bed with Usagi's fingers sliding over the skin on his arm. He fought off a violent shudder and lifted his own glare up to Casey's smug face. His reward was a quick flash of shock from Casey on seeing Leo's famous fierce gaze.

"And why should I?" Leo grit out, the growl clearly evident in his own voice. "What has trusting you ever gotten me Casey?"

Casey stood up straight, refusing to cower under Leo's glare. "I tried to apologize for that," he said, although he realized growling the words at Leo made the mentioned apology seem even more insincere. "You, on the other hand, have _never_ apologized to me."

Leo's glare intensified. "And why _exactly_ would I owe _you_ an apology?"

"Its yer fault Raphael is refusin to talk to me!"

"That is between you and Raphael. I have nothing to do it."

"You have _everything_ to do with it," Casey yelled back at him. "Every problem between me and Raph has always been thanks to you!"

Leo rolled his eyes and tipped his head at Casey. "Every problem? That's a little dramatic don't you think?"

"No," Casey said, refusing to back down. He could feel the anger in his chest heat up at the sight of the clan leader's suddenly calm, patronizing face. Leo was clearly no longer taking him seriously. "I don't. Not after this many years. Raphael was _mine_ , Leo. Mine." Warning sirens began to alarm in Casey's head. An attempt at self-preservation before the next set of damning words could escape his mouth. He ignored them. "Mine until the almighty leader of the turtles decided he wanted a fuck buddy."

An immediate chill ran through him as he saw Leo's eyes flip to white. Casey cursed his stupid brain and his stupid mouth and quickly braced his shoulders as Leo moved to attack.

* * *

Raphael scaled the front of their house and landed on the second floor deck. Shadow and Machi had just joined the rest of them on the beach and when Raph had asked where they'd been, Machi had told him about their fun walk through the woods. And based on Machi's level of excitement, he kind of wished he could've gone with them.

A few minutes later he was actually thinking about calling Leo's T-phone when he hadn't found him anywhere inside. He headed behind the house and paused for a moment, unsure which direction to even walk, when suddenly Casey came walking out of the forest in front him. Alone and rubbing a spot on his arm as if it was sore.

"Where's Leo?" he asked. He watched Casey's head jerk up in his direction.

Casey froze. It was the pretty much the first direct thing Raph had said to him in weeks.

"Look, Raph," Casey said, putting his free hand up in front of himself in an attempt to hopefully keep Raph standing here with him for a moment. He met Raph's eyes and silently pleaded with him to hear him out. "I know yer still pissed at me for helpin Usagi trap Leo. And I deserve it. And I'm sorry."

Raph stared hard at him for a moment. Although Leo didn't startle when Raph touched him in their sleep anymore, Leo was still having nightmares related to his time with Usagi. But Raphael was beginning to feel ready to admit that the whole ordeal wasn't fully Casey's fault.

"Okay," Raphael said, slowly.

"That's not all," Casey said, talking quickly before Raph could say much more. He rubbed his hand over his upper arm again. "You and I used to be really close. I mean, for a while, you were pretty much my only friend." He paused again. These words were harder to say, especially since the anger that had fueled his conversation with Leo earlier was entirely burned out. "But something changed and we didn't hang out as much and I gotta be honest, I've always blamed Leo. Always. Like years' worth of blame."

" _Leo_?" Raph asked. "The turtle who's forgiven you for being a total bonehead in the past?"

"Yeah. And I actually just said some stuff to him that was pretty uncool."

"Like what?" Raph asked with narrowed eyes.

"Let's just say I was pretty shitty to him," Casey said. It was up to Leo whether he told Raph exactly what Casey had said. But Casey was in no way repeating anything.

"Where is Leo?" Raph growled out.

"He went to cool off," Casey said.

"Cool off?" Raph asked, the shock clear in his voice. He could count on one three-fingered hand the number of times Leo needed time to cool off. "What the fuck happened, Casey?"

"Look," Casey said, raising his hands up. "I just – I need to apologize to you. As his – his mate. I'm sorry for what I said to him. At the time, in my brain, I really believed those thoughts. But as soon as I said them, I realized I shouldn't be blamin him for what was happenin between you and me. I apologized to Leo already. A real apology, which he accepted -,"

"Of course he did."

"- right after he scared the shit outta me," Casey added around Raph's interruption. His mind raced back to the words he'd said and the sight of an immediately furious Leonardo. Casey hadn't even had time to blink before Leo's hand had been wrapped tightly around his arm, his back had been slammed into a tree and Leo was openly growling in his face. Between the attack and his own realization that he shouldn't have been blaming Leo, Casey had never scrambled to take back anything so quickly in his entire life. "I shouldn't have taken my anger out on him."

Raph stared hard at him. He still wanted to know what exactly had been said, but he could see that Casey looked sincerely upset about the whole thing. And he was doing the honorable thing now by admitting it directly to Raphael. He eyed Casey's arm and saw the large bruise forming.

"Did Leo do that?" he said, nodding towards the large bruise.

"Yeah," Casey said. "I'm not sure I've ever seen him move so fast. He can be really fuckin scary when he wants to be."

Raph tried to fight the prideful smirk from his face, but wasn't successful.

"Yer really not gonna tell me what you said?"

Casey shook his head. "I told Leo I wanted to talk to ya. He said you'd know where to find him when we were finished."

"Are we finished?"

Casey's eyes moved quickly to Raph's eyes where he saw the real implication from his question.

"I wouldn't like that."

Raph crossed his arms and sighed. "I wouldn't either, Jones."

Half of Casey's mouth lifted in a crooked grin.

"Ya can't be blamin Leo for our shit, though."

Casey nodded. "I think it'd just been festerin for too long, Raph. And I am sorry."

Raphael nodded as well. "If Leo said he forgave ya, then we'll drop it. I'm going to find him. I'll see you at dinner."

Casey nodded again and began walking back to the house, feeling a little lighter than he'd felt in several weeks.

Raph pulled his T-phone out as he headed into the forest and sent a text to Master Splinter, asking him to keep an eye on Machi and letting him know that he and Leo would be back in time for dinner. Then he moved into a sprint until he was beneath their hidden platform. He scaled one of the trees and didn't even pause before landing himself on top of Leo who lay sprawled out on their hammock.

"Hi there," Leo said softly as he wrapped his arms around Raphael.

Raph pressed his face into Leo's neck and pressed kisses there before pulling back so he could meet those blue eyes.

"Casey said he was a real shit to ya," Raph said.

Leo let his fingers trail down Raphael's arms as he felt himself calm with Raphael's solid weight pressing him down into the hammock. "He was," he responded before moving his hands up to Raph's neck so that he could pull that emerald face in close to kiss him.

Raph slid his eyes shut and let his mouth move with Leo's for a few moments before pulling away again to ask Leo what exactly Casey said to him.

"It doesn't matter," Leo said and watched as Raph rolled his eyes at him. "No, really, Raph. What matters is that as clan leader, I shouldn't have been ready to take a family member's head off because of a few inappropriate comments."

Raph's eyes widened. "Ya never react that way, Fearless. So he must've said some _serious_ _inappropriate comments_. What did he say?"

Leo met Raph's eyes and thought about it. He didn't want Raphael further upset with Casey, especially since he felt like he'd already handled the situation, but he also didn't want Raphael continually wondering what happened between him and Casey, either. He wasn't in the habit of keeping secrets from his mate. He sighed as he decided he'd better just tell him. "He indicated that you were his first and that I stole you from him because I wanted someone to keep my bed warm."

Raph's eyes widened again as he stared down at Leonardo. "He said that to you?"

"Yes, although his word choice was slightly different."

"I'll bet it was," Raph growled as he tightened his hold on Leo's sides. No wonder Casey wouldn't repeat it to him.

Leo shut his eyes and shook his head from side to side as the images of what happened after ran through his mind again. "The instinct to attack him was so strong, Raph. That's not the way a ninja behaves. I apologized to him for hurting him."

"You apologized?" Raph groaned and ducked his head down so he could rest his forehead against Leo's plastron. "What am I gonna do with ya, Fearless?"

"I shouldn't have hurt him. I owed him an apology. I mean, what kind of ninja, clan leader am I?"

"I know _you know_ yer not just clan leader Leo all the time," Raph said, lifting his head back up. "Casey blamed ya for what happened between me and him and said some nasty, personal shit. And yer allowed feel upset when someone says nasty, personal shit to ya."

"Feel upset, yes. Physically attack him, no."

Raph stared down at his stubborn turtle. "We can vote Casey off the island if ya want." It earned him a small smile from Leo but he could see Leo was still beating himself up over the whole mess. "Fine, you physically attacked him, which is exactly what I would've done," he said with a grin, "and now yer conscious is yellin at ya about it. But, Fearless, ya already realized yer mistake and apologized to the idiot. My orders are that yer to quit feelin guilty right now."

"Your orders?" Leo said with a bigger smile and a raised eye ridge.

"Yeah, _my_ orders. Leader Leo doesn't think he's rubbed off on me over the years?"

"Oh, I know I've rubbed off on you."

Raphael groaned and bit into Leo's neck in retaliation as he felt Leo's lower plastron grind up against his own. "That's really the tactic I shoulda used to get ya to shorten yer lectures when we were younger."

"Are you finished lecturing me?"

Raphael nodded and shifted his own lower plastron against Leo.

"Well, then it does seem to be a pretty efficient tactic," Leo purred up at him as he shifted his hips forward again.

Raphael moved his lips across Leo's neck again before whispering, "I've always been yers."

* * *

 **A/N** : I'm not sure I'm quite finished with this train of thought so maybe it'll show up later. In future one-shots.

On an unrelated-to-this-story-author's-note **-** I want to take a moment to say a great big _**THANK YOU**_ to whoever nominated 'Stamina' for the Best Comedy category of Stealthy Stories' 2015 TMNT Fanfiction Competition. Most of my stories have ratings that are too mature for the competition, so I was surprised and then _giddily happy_ to see 'Stamina' included.

I hope everyone gets a chance to review the ballot, read new stories, and vote! From what I can see so far on the ballot (which can be found on the TMNT Fanfiction Competition Tumblr page for those of you interested), there are a ton of my own personal favorite stories included, as well as new ones that I'll be busy reading over the next couple weeks – after all, who better to recommend TMNT stories than other TMNT readers?


	8. Hissterical

"Look! Look!" Hana exclaimed loudly as she burst into the main room of the top floor of their beach house. She proudly held up the plastic container she'd _borrowed_ from the kitchen before her walk through the forest with her dad.

Miwa automatically smiled and turned at the sound of her daughter's voice. Hana's face was bright and her smile was huge as her little hands held up the container so Miwa could see what she'd collected this time. Usually it was leaves or interesting rocks. Once a caterpillar. But Miwa quickly paled as she saw what Hana had brought back this time.

"It's a snake!" Hana said, practically jumping up and down in her excitement.

"Yes it is," Miwa said slowly.

"Daddy said you can tell it's a snake and not an eel because -,"

"I'm well aware of what makes up a snake, sweetie."

The laugh that came out of the turtle standing next to her actually sounded more like a snort and Miwa quickly elbowed Leonardo in his side. Since he wasn't going to be able to keep the grin off his face, Leo hurried to finish filling his plate and move away from her so he could join Raphael at the main table to eat.

"Sweetie, tell mommy how to measure a snake."

"With inches," Hana said, already laughing before she got to the punch line of the joke her dad had told her on the walk back. "Because they don't have feet!"

"That's hiss-terical!" Mikey said as he hugged his tiny niece's shoulders and peered in at the snake before moving back to fill his plate for lunch.

Miwa ignored Mikey and tried to offer her daughter a smile before turning to Sam. "How could you let her bring that back?"

"Did you – did you just _hiss_ that question at him?" Mikey asked with a grin that would make the Cheshire cat jealous.

Woody pushed Mikey down onto a stool at the island in an attempt to protect the now chortling turtle from Miwa's own famous glare. "I'm sure she didn't," Woody said.

Miwa might have believed him if Woody's own grin wasn't a mile wide. She shot both of them her best glare, which somehow only led to more laughter from the pair, before turning back to Sam. "Well?"

"You – you weren't there to see the face she gave me when she asked if she could keep it. And Hana said she just wanted to bring it back so you could see it," Sam said. He moved in close so he could whisper to his wife through her shiny dark hair. "And you know I have a serious weakness for ladies with golden eyes."

"You are the biggest pushover," Miwa muttered back to him and crossed her arms as if it could stop the blush from spreading across her face.

Machi walked over to the kitchen island where the others stood and leaned down to peer into the plastic container as well. "We've never been allowed to have pets," she said. She quickly glanced over at her fathers where they sat at the table finishing lunch. She'd always had the feeling the _no pets_ rule was more her papa's rule, but she'd never really pushed the issue to figure out why he was against having them.

"That snake is not a pet," Miwa said quickly. "It's going back to the forest. Right now."

"Not even a fish," Machi continued. The snake eyed her in return and jutted his little tongue out every few seconds. "I mean, how much trouble could a fish be?"

"You'd be surprised," Raph muttered and ignored the not so silent laughter coming from Leonardo beside him.

"Let's eat lunch first," Sam said, hungrily eyeing the spread of food left out on the island. "Then we'll return Mr. Snake to the forest."

Hana pulled the plastic container closer to her chest and pouted. "Why _can't_ I keep it?"

Mikey spun around on his stool and scooped Hana up into his lap. "Oooh, I have the best story for you!"

"Michelangelo," Miwa said with a clear warning in her voice.

"You see, once there was an evil kunoichi," Mikey whispered. He ducked down to Hana's face so that he was not only on her level, but also avoiding Miwa's glare.

"I don't think she was evil at that point in the story," Leo interjected with a thoughtful look on his face that had Raphael rolling his eyes.

Hana waited patiently for her uncle to continue. She loved her Uncle Mikey's stories anyway, but the fact that this one seemed to be a story that her mother didn't want her to hear made her all the more interested. "Did the kunoichi have a pet snake?"

"Even better," Mikey said with wide eyes. "She had magic ooze sprinkled on her -,"

"Sprinkled?" Leo asked with a frown.

"- and she turned _into_ a snake!"

"Cool!" Hana said, her eyes lighting up. "Did she live in the forest? Wait, do you think _this_ could be her?" She nearly slipped off her uncle's lap in her hurry to lift the container up to his face so he could closely inspect whether she had managed to catch the kunoichi snake.

Mikey's eyes narrowed in closely to inspect the snake while Miwa sighed dramatically next to them. Sam piled more food on his plate and grinned over at his cute, pouting wife. He made a mental note to ask Michelangelo to tell him some stories about Miwa when she was a snake mutant. Maybe sketch him a little picture as well.

Mikey felt Woody lean into his shoulder to take a look at the snake. He glanced over at him when he felt the loss of Woody's warmth from his side and watched him scroll through his phone.

"Looks like it's a corn snake," Woody said, holding his phone up to show them a picture of a similar snake. "I don't think the magical ooze would turn her into a corn snake. I bet she was something cooler."

"Something with venom," Leo added with a wide grin.

Miwa glared at him.

"Don't listen to them, Hana," Mikey said with his own wide grin. "This could definitely be the kunoichi snake."

"Maybe we should give it a sword to find out," Raph added dryly. He listened to Leo laugh again and shivered as one of Leo's hands trailed over his neck. He shot Leo a smile before he turned back to his lunch and thought about how grateful he was to see Leo in such a great mood. While Leo was generally happy, the turtle had a knack for finding something to worry over on a pretty routine basis. Admittedly, they'd faced real crises that required the leader's full attention in the past. But it had been quite a while since he'd seen a tense, stressed Leo.

He glanced back over to Leo to offer another smile when he noticed that Leo had paused with his fork raised halfway between his plate and his mouth and appeared to be neglecting his lunch in favor of ogling Raph's upper arms. He grinned to himself before purposely flexing the arm closest to Leo and then watched those blue eyes darken as he audibly heard Leo swallow. Hard.

Leo's eyes shot up to Raphael's eyes. Part of him thought he should scowl at the hothead for teasing him. But the more insistent part of him made sure he had Raph's full eye contact attention before glancing at the closest exit, which happened to be the doors leading to the deck.

"Need somethin, babe?" Raph husked over to him. He let his eyes tease Leo before he flexed his arm once again while taking another bite of his sandwich. He glanced back over to him and caught Leo's eyes on his arm again. He was about to continue the teasing when his thoughts were interrupted by a growl.

"Go," Donnie growled at them from across the table.


	9. Night(mare) Watcher

So, someone (flikaroo) had suggested in a past review that Raphael could help Leo work through his nightmares and I thought, wouldn't it be nice if there _was_ a way Raphael could chase those nightmares away?

* * *

 _He shuddered as unfamiliar fingers wrapped around one of his wrists before they began to slide down his arm. He tried to jerk his arm away but his wrists were trapped to the headboard by unrelenting shackles. He couldn't smell Raphael and cold panic set in as white fur became visible in the darkness._

He growled and thrashed and twisted as those fingers continued to trail over his skin until suddenly he was sitting upright, gulping in deep breaths, in his own safe bed.

He immediately went to rub at the skin that had begun to chafe and burn in his nightmare but stopped when he found unfamiliar cloth wrapped around both of his wrists. The surprise finding let him forget about where his mind had had him trapped a few moments before, and he focused on the soft material that was covered in Raphael's scent.

"Didn't drive the nightmare away," Raph's sleepy voice murmured as he looped his arm around Leo's middle and pulled him back down into his side. "But at least it stopped ya from trying to rub yer skin off when ya woke up."

 _Masks,_ Leo thought to himself as he went willingly back into Raphael's side. He couldn't actually see the color in the dark, but he realized that Raphael had somehow wrapped two red masks around his wrists sometime after he had fallen asleep.

The nightmares weren't going away and Raphael had obviously tried to come up with a new way to help him cope. It pained him to think that Raph's sleep was being disturbed by these nightmares, so much so that he had spent time trying to come up with a solution for him.

Leo pressed his face into Raph's neck and inhaled deeply. Raphael whispered words of safety and protection that pushed back his panic and finally allowed him to settle back into sleep.

* * *

 _The fingers trailed down his arms and he growled and tried to twist himself away, but a sudden heavy weight on his plastron prevented movement. A furry hand slid down the curve of his face and he heard his name whispered out._

 _He began to thrash side to side, moving any part of himself that he could. He realized as he shifted that the metal shackles weren't digging into his wrists as he would expect. He twisted his head back and narrowed his eyes through the darkness. Although still chained, his wrists appeared to be wrapped in a soft, cloth material._

" _Leonardo. Leonardo, please calm yourself."_

 _That voice was making his skin crawl and he growled again as he turned back towards the rabbit who currently sat straddling his middle. Fingers slid down his plastron and he struggled harder against the shackles and the unwelcome weight. He heard a patronizing tsking noise and cold panic began to set in as the rabbit's face began to lower towards his own._

Raphael was jerked immediately awake as Leo sprung upwards out of his arms and then proceeded to twist and tangle himself in their sheets.

"Leo!" Raph said as he managed to grab one of Leo's arms and pull him back towards the center of their mattress before Leo managed to thrash himself off their bed. He settled back down against their pillows and pulled Leo down with him. "Yer okay, babe," he whispered repeatedly as he listened to Leo's ragged breathing. "What was it?" he finally asked. Leo had told him about these dreams before, but this reaction seemed a little more intense than those other times.

"He was on top of me," Leo said between ragged breaths and felt Raphael's arms tighten around him as Raph's forehead fell to nuzzle against his face.

Leo shifted his shoulders and tried to shake out his arms in an attempt to chase away the adrenalin he could still feel shooting down towards his hands. He suddenly noticed that Raphael's masks were tied protectively around his wrists once again and forced his breathing to slow as he remembered the protection the masks had provided in the nightmare.

Raphael listened as Leo's breathing finally began to slow and did his best to keep his inner cursing to himself. His mate was being tortured and he was at a loss for what to do about it. He'd managed to stop Leo from rubbing his own wrists raw when he woke up, but had no idea how else to help. He opened his eyes to watch Leo's face and realized that Leo was staring intently at the masks wrapped around his wrists.

Leo sat himself back up into a seated position and met Raph's questioning green eyes through the darkness of their bedroom as he unwrapped one of Raph's masks from one of his wrists. He thought again about how the masks had made their way into his nightmare and held the mask up as an offer to Raphael.

"Tie me up."

Raphael shot up into a seated position as well. "Fearless?"

"Don't call me that," Leo said, sharply. He was practically still shaking from his dream. He knew the nickname wasn't used to mock, but he couldn't currently handle hearing it.

Raphael's eyes narrowed but he kept his mouth shut.

"He tied me up and touched me," Leo said, dipping his eyes down to the mask. "I want you to do it." He thrust the mask towards Raphael again and waited.

Raphael stared back at Leo, full of hesitation. They'd never tied each other up. Never. Others had maliciously done it often enough in the past so that it never seemed like a fun recreational activity.

"Leonardo," Raphael said slowly, "I don't know if -,"

"Your masks were there this time, Raph. They were there. I could feel them. And the next time I'm stuck like that, I want my brain to bring you there." He looked back up to Raph's face. He knew Raphael didn't like this idea. But he was suddenly sure they should try it. "I need this," he breathed out.

Raph's eyes dropped down to the mask Leo was still offering up to him. He couldn't deny Leo anything, and if Leo _needed_ this, he was going to provide it. He surged forward with no warning and knocked Leo back on his shell. Leo's wrists were pulled together above his head in one strong emerald hand while his other hand pulled his mask from Leo's fingers and quickly began looping it around Leo's wrists and into their headboard. He kept his eyes on the binding as he tied it tightly and then steeled his own eyes to hide his doubt before looking back at Leo's face.

Leo shut his eyes as he gave a few quick test pulls to the tight restraint. He had watched Raphael tie him up and he knew that it was Raphael on top of him and yet he still felt anxiety prickle its way down his skin. Raphael watched the pained uneasiness on Leo's face and it became immediately clear to him that this _was_ exactly what Leo needed. And best of all, it was something he could do.

He dipped his head and bit into Leo's neck, forcing Leo's attention back to him and away from the restraints and whatever thoughts were currently causing his mate to break out into a sweat.

"Who else bites you?" Raph growled at him.

Leo's eyes snapped open and met Raphael's shining green eyes. "Only you," he whispered back.

Raphael covered Leo's mouth and busied Leo's tongue with his own before he reached up and squeezed Leo's bound wrists. He began sliding his fingers down Leo's arms and felt Leo inhale sharply against his mouth. Leo's arm muscles bunched beneath his hands and he kissed Leo harder as his fingers reached Leo's shoulders.

"Who else kisses you?" Raph rumbled to him.

"Only you, Raph," Leo whispered again. He forced his eyes to reopen so he could keep Raph's face in sight. His arms relaxed and the anxiety waned as he drank up the love he could see in the green eyes that were roaming over his body in admiration.

Raphael moved his eyes back to Leo's face before he let his fingers slide slowly back up Leo's arms to the bound wrists. He shifted himself where he sat on Leo's lap, subtly rubbing himself against Leo's lower plastron to gauge Leo's reaction. He watched as Leo's attention was so completely devoted to the fingers moving over his arms again that he didn't even seem to notice Raph's hip movement. Clearly, Leo wasn't remotely aroused. But Raphael was going to fix that as well. Being tied up with him around was about to be equated with fun.

He moved his hands back to Leo's shoulders and kept eye contact with his mate as he moved his fingers down Leo's plastron.

"Who touches you here?"

Leo's growing anxiety was knocked away again at that deep rumble and he met Raph's determined green eyes again.

"You, Raphael."

Raph nodded in agreement and shifted so that he could dip his head and lick his way up Leo's plastron. He listened to Leo suck in a breath at the first contact and then shiver in pleasure when Raph's tongue lapped across his neck.

"And here?"

"Just you, Raph."

Raphael lifted his head when he noticed the husky change in Leo's voice. Darkening blue eyes met his own and he let a churr roll up his throat at the sight. He pressed his lips to Leo's before rubbing himself against Leo's lower plastron once again.

"How bout here?"

"You, Raphael," Leo responded, his mate's name nearly swallowed by a churr as he lifted his hips towards Raphael.

Raphael nodded again at the correct response and shifted himself further so that he could continuously rub against Leo. He watched Leo's face and was pleased when he appeared flushed for the right reason.

"Aishiteru, Leo," he whispered in between kissing Leo and grinding against him. "I'll always be here," he said in a continued whisper as he tested his fingers on a trail up Leo's arms again and watched for a reaction.

Leo felt Raph's fingers move over his arms, but he also felt Raph's tongue move over his neck and he began to pant as he pulled at his wrists not out of fear but out of want. The anxiety and unease was brushed aside. His eyes were too busy roaming over Raphael's emerald upper arms. He pulled at the restraint again. He wanted to touch and squeeze his hands over those muscles.

Raphael churred again when he saw the positive reaction from Leo and was pleased when he heard Leo churr back at him in response. He thought about untying Leo's hands, but decided that since Leo appeared comfortable enough, he was going to play.

Leo's eyes narrowed when Raphael's grin turned devious but before he could ask, Raphael shifted again and his mouth moved down Leo's plastron until he was tonguing Leo's slit. Leo moaned and released himself to Raphael's talented mouth.

"Who makes ya moan like that, Fearless?" Raph teased.

Leo pulled at the wrist binds again and shifted his hips. "Only you, Raphie," he moaned.

"Damn straight," Raph said with a grin before he pulled Leo into his mouth. He kept his eyes up on Leo's pleasure-filled, gorgeous face and churred loudly.

Leo forced his eyes to focus down on Raphael's face and pulled at the binding again.

"Raph."

Raphael pulled his mouth off Leo with a grin and raised his eye ridges in question.

"Wanna touch you," Leo said. "Untie me."

Raph sighed dramatically and the breath that hit Leo's exposed wet skin made Leo shiver. He ran his hand up and down Leo's hard length while he pretended to contemplate the request. "Ya wake me up in the middle of the night. Demand that I tie ya up. Now ya want untied, Fearless?"

The mock aggravation in Raphael's voice only warmed Leo further. "Raph," Leo groaned as he felt Raph's hand tighten in its movements.

Raphael's grin widened as he shifted himself forward to begin working on the tight knot around Leo's wrists. With Raphael towering over him, Leo let his eyes roam over Raphael's arms and then down his plastron where he found that Raphael had dropped down from his own tight plastron at some point as well.

Raph pulled his mask off Leo's wrists and smiled again when he caught Leo's eyes hungrily pinned on him. A moment later, Leo had one hand wrapped tightly around the biceps of one of his arms while Leo's other hand moved to wrap tightly around his own exposed length. He leaned down and kissed Leo again before settling between his thighs and moving his fingers to Leo's entrance. He tried to be patient in preparing his mate, although Leo's panting, moaning noises weren't helping his resolve.

When he determined that it was enough, he was finally able to bat Leo's hands away from himself and begin to push his way into Leonardo. Although breathing heavily in eagerness himself, he paused once he was fully enclosed in Leo's warm body. The pause had Leo stilling to meet his eyes in return.

"Aishiteru, Leo," he whispered when it was clear he had Leo's full attention. "I'm _always_ right here. With you. For you."

Leo stared back at Raphael's handsome face and wondered, not for the first time, how he'd managed to be so lucky to have this turtle in his life. This turtle who wanted him in return. Needed him. Protected him. Loved him.

"I love you," he whispered back to Raphael.

Raphael grinned before he leaned down to kiss Leo again. His hips thrust forward and his hand moved swiftly over Leo. He released a loud churr into Leo's mouth as he felt Leo's hands move and squeeze over the muscles in his arms.

It was amazing, the feeling of Raphael inside of him, as well as all the places Raphael's body touched as they moved against each other. Leo's hands tightened around his favorite turtle and he moved his mouth and tongue to Raphael's neck, for which he was rewarded with a deep rumbling groan from Raphael. He repeated the action and was rewarded again with not only the noise, but quickened movements that had him snapping his head forward to bite into Raphael's thick neck.

Raphael lasted only a few more thrusts after he watched Leo give in to the overwhelming pleasure. Then he rolled them both and tucked Leo into his side before he panted out a few more whispered words of reassurance to Leo.

"Thank you, Takara," Leo whispered into Raphael's neck.

"Anythin for you, Leonardo," he murmured as he pulled Leo's naked wrist up and rewrapped his red mask back around it.

* * *

 _He froze when he realized his wrists were tied above him. But the fingers that moved over his arms were warm and familiar. Raphael's scent wafted up his nose before he even came into Leo's vision. His green eyes were bright and shining through the darkness and Leo smiled up at that handsome face._

" _Come here," Leo whispered up to him._

 _Raphael grinned at him in return and covered his mouth for a kiss before moving his lips over Leo's neck. Leo's hips shifted forward and he released a loud churr._

Leo moaned in his sleep and Raphael began shaking Leo's shoulder before he even got his own eyes to open.

"Wake up, Fearless," Raph murmured, although it was said with less urgency than normal. He was familiar enough with his mate's sounds to know what those particular pleasure-filled noises meant.

Leo's eyes slid open and he grinned when he saw the real Raphael looming over him. He released a churr as he felt Raph's hand move down to rub over the bulge already present in his lower plastron.

"Ya ain't havin fun without _me_ ," Raph accused.

Leo wrapped his arms around Raph's shoulders to pull them impossibly closer together.

"Oh, but I was having fun with you," he replied.

Raphael growled at him.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed your sleep again, Raphie," Leo said with a teasing grin.

"You'll make it up to me," Raph rumbled before he latched his mouth onto Leo's neck.


	10. Meeting of the Minds Prequel

An alien spaceship crashed into her family's New York City apartment and killed her parents. She had thought that would be the weirdest thing she'd ever have to face.

But she had been wrong.

Her little brother hadn't been home when the Kraang destroyed her family's building. And for that she would be forever grateful, because she was sure she wouldn't have been able to handle losing Woody as well. They were three years apart and had never fought like normal siblings, even as children. Instead, he'd always been her support system when she'd been teased in school for being a big nerd. The other kids had made fun of her for not only skipping a grade, but also for taking college classes back when she was still in high school. But Woody had always been there at the end of the day with silly jokes during Mario Kart races to determine who did the dishes after dinner.

In the aftermath, she moved out of the dorms at her university and found an apartment for the two of them. She was then quickly overwhelmed with facing her own grief, keeping up with classes and rent, while also trying to keep up with how Woody was handling his own grief as well. She was beginning to feel powerless as she watched Woody slowly and silently move through his days. He went to school, he came home and did his homework, he made them dinner, and he kept the apartment clean. All without being asked. And all without his normal Woody cheer.

Woody finished his junior year of high school and then asked her if he could get a job. She knew he wanted to help out financially and figured it couldn't hurt for him to have something to do over the summer. And since he actually seemed excited when the owner of their favorite pizzeria offered him a job making deliveries, she kept her reservations about him driving all over their neighborhood knocking on random strangers' doors to herself. Plus, the new job earned them some free pizzas for dinner, more often than their parents would've appreciated, but neither of them could turn down their family's traditional comfort food.

Another year went by and Sadie watched as Woody's cheerful smiles returned. He used the money he made to go grocery shopping for the two of them, something she wasn't good at remembering to do, and she'd often find a lunch stuffed into her bag when she got to school. He forced her to put her books away every few nights to play video games with him. He was promoted to chef at the pizzeria, much to her relief for his safety. And she cheered as loud as she could on the day he walked across the stage at his high school graduation.

And while she was happy to see signs of the old Woody, it also became pretty clear to her that he had a secret. But since Woody was obviously happier than he'd been in a long time, and she was pretty busy being invited to join a research lab on campus that would guarantee her a spot in a graduate school program, she didn't question him. Although, maybe if she had, she wouldn't have been quite so shocked when she came home, albeit unexpectedly that particular night, and found Woody in a deep make-out session on their couch.

She had to admit, his make-out partner was adorable with big blue eyes and freckles and an easy laugh, even if it did sound a little nervous. But he was also a turtle. A large, mutant, talking turtle. And, apparently, he also thought he was a ninja based on the nunchucks she could see strapped to his belt.

Sadie sank into the armchair next to the couch the two teens had recently jumped up from when she'd come walking through the door. They both stood awkwardly now in front of it and Sadie watched Woody grab the turtle's arm as his freckled friend's eyes quickly looked between her and Woody before darting to the closest window.

Then Woody tried to tell her that the turtle, Mikey, was just someone who happened to enjoy dressing up like a turtle. But Woody was a terrible liar and Sadie watched as even Mikey stood grinning at Woody as if he thought the image of a lying Woody was amusing.

Sadie held up a hand and Woody, who was drowning in the lie anyway, quickly shut his mouth and instinctually tightened his fingers around Mikey's arm, doing his best to keep Mikey from fleeing out the window.

"Please, sit," she said. She watched as Woody looked to Mikey, gauging his comfort level. Mikey grinned easily back at him before he plopped himself down onto their couch.

Woody sat himself on the couch then as well, between Mikey and Sadie. "So, Mikey, this is my big sister, Sadie. And Sadie, this is -,"

"A mutant turtle."

Mikey heard Woody sigh, but he kept his grin and kept himself quiet. He still wasn't sure staying was a good idea, considering how upset his brothers had been when he told them about Woody, but he could see that Woody wanted him to stay. Woody had told Mikey plenty about Sadie and Mikey had to admit, given how devoted he himself was to his own family, part of Woody's charm was his clear fondness for his big sister. So he was staying. And hopefully he would make a good impression to this person who was very important to Woody.

"So you were transformed with some of that Kraang mutagen?" Sadie asked.

"Sadie," Woody exclaimed with wide eyes aimed at his sister.

"I think that's a perfectly reasonable question," Sadie said, gesturing towards the talking turtle on their couch.

"You just met him. Maybe try some small talk," Woody said. "Like, _it's nice to meet you_."

Sadie looked back to Mikey and found him grinning at Woody as if Woody had just said something hilarious related to an inside joke.

"Do you have family, Mikey?"

Michelangelo's smile grew as he turned back towards her and nodded. "A father and three brothers," he said. So far he wasn't tell her anything he hadn't already told Woody.

"Are they also turtles?"

"My bros are," Mikey said.

"Are they older or younger than you?"

"Sadie," Woody said, shooting her another warning look as he leaned forward on the couch.

Sadie met Woody's eyes and wondered how best to go about this since she could now clearly see a rare irritation growing in Woody's eyes. "Look, Woody, you're clearly spending a lot of time with him, right? I just want to know more about him."

"By interrogating him?"

"Its fine, Woods," Mikey said. He rested a hand on Woody's shoulder and leaned forward so he could see Sadie better around Woody's protective block. He'd seen his brothers do something similar over and over again but there was something about the way Woody thought he needed to be shielded that made his stomach squirm and his skin reheat near the level it had been before Sadie had interrupted them only moments before. He tried to force his brain to concentrate on the present. "At least she's not running away screaming, right?"

Woody calmed with Mikey's hand on his shoulder and leaned back into the couch cushions. It had taken him months of building a friendship with Mikey through a door before Mikey had finally revealed himself to him. He loved his sister, but he didn't want her scaring Mikey off. There was always a niggling fear in the back of his mind that Mikey could truly disappear at any point and Woody knew that he would never be able to find him if that happened.

"Plus, I have questions too," Mikey said.

The serious tone had Woody tilting his head towards Mikey as he wondered what question Mikey could have for Sadie that he hadn't already answered himself as the two of them had been getting to know each other. Sadie sat up a little straighter herself and figured having the tables turned was only fair after she'd just played twenty questions with the turtle.

"So, has his hair always been this curly?" Mikey asked with a straight face and a nod towards Woody.

Woody rolled his eyes and felt his cheeks pink up immediately. He hadn't failed to notice that Mikey liked to run his fingers through his hair at every opportunity and he self-consciously tried to mash down some of the curls as he suddenly realized they were probably sticking up at all angles after their earlier session. But he was happy to see Sadie relax back into the cushions of her chair with a laugh at Mikey's question. She offered Mikey a sincere smile and Woody nudged Mikey in the shoulder before jumping up to grab them a drink from the kitchen.

"The answer to your question is yes," Sadie said. She stood suddenly and moved to a nearby bookshelf. "Thankfully the Kraang ship didn't destroy everything. We managed to save some things." She pulled an album down and turned to find Mikey already next to her, although she hadn't heard him move to cross the room. She quickly turned to the section she wanted and handed the book over to the turtle. "Those curls just sprang out of his head even then," she said, pointing to a few of the pictures. "He's probably about six months old there." She watched Mikey's eyes light up and his grin widen and felt herself relax further as she saw the clear affection Mikey had for her little brother.

Mikey greedily flipped through the pages and did his best to memorize Woody at these different ages. He paused though when he came to a particular photo and found himself staring at Woody and Sadie with big smiles as they posed with their equally blond parents. He glanced back up at Sadie and found her focused on the photo as well.

"I'm sorry about your parents," Mikey said to her in a low voice.

"It's been a hard couple years," Sadie said. It was her standard response when she didn't want to dive into the past.

"My bros and I got rid of the Kraang as fast as we could, but a lot of people were still hurt before it happened," Mikey said, softly.

Sadie's eyes widened a little bit and she glanced down at the weapons on Mikey's belt again. She suddenly had many _many_ more questions for him. But she remembered Woody's irritation from a few minutes ago and decided to focus on the important ones.

"How long?"

Mikey blinked at her, suddenly wondering if she meant how long had he and his bros been after the Kraang before he quickly realized she was asking about his relationship with Woody.

"About a year and a half," he said. He cringed a little as Sadie's eyes got cartoonishly big.

"Has Woody met your brothers? Am I the only one in the dark?"

Mikey smiled sheepishly back at her as he handed the photo album back. He turned and plopped himself back down on their couch again as Woody returned and handed him a soda.

Woody gave her a mock scowl when he saw the photo album in her hands but still handed her a drink as well. And right when Sadie thought maybe Mikey wasn't going to answer her, he began to speak again.

"My bros and I had a pretty big victory recently," Mikey said. They had taken down the Shredder to be accurate, as Donnie would say. But Mikey hadn't even gone into that much detail with Woody yet. Woody didn't like to hear about his battles, probably due to the danger, although he had to admit he didn't mind the attention Woody paid to his scars. He shook the image of Woody's tongue out of his head and forced himself to focus on the present again. "And since my family was in such a good mood, I told them about Woody. My brothers have met him, but only a couple times."

"They like pizza as much as we do, so I'm sure after ten or so more free pizzas they'll totally warm up to me," Woody added.

"Nah, they already like ya, dude," Mikey said, resting his hand back on Woody's shoulder. "I know they're playing protective big brothers with you but they never would've met up with you again after the first time if they didn't like ya. Plus, what's not to like?" He grinned as he watched Woody's cheeks pink again. He got real pleasure out of making Woody blush and kind of wished he could blush so he could repay the favor. He turned back to Sadie who had sat down in her chair again. "Although, I did have to teach Woody the finer points of spicing up a pizza."

Sadie had been caught up watching the sweet moment between the two of them and suddenly jerked her head back to Mikey's face as she realized he was speaking directly to her again. "Uh, you mean like hot sauce?"

"Jellybeans."

Sadie laughed outright again. She glanced over at Woody and gave him a slight one shouldered shrug and watched as he grinned back at her in response to Sadie's _I like him_ signal.

"Well, I'm going to bed," Sadie said, rising from her chair. "Mikey it was very to meet you, finally, and I want you to feel welcome to come over here any time. Even if I'm home," she added with a pointed look at Woody. She still had questions but decided to digest what she'd already learned before trying to dig for more answers.

Mikey watched Sadie stand and an idea that had been bouncing around in his head for the past few months suddenly sprang forward again.

"Wait," he said, "Woody says you like science stuff?"

* * *

" _Mikester_."

Mikey had just landed in the alley when he heard his name whispered loudly and turned to catch what Woody threw at him. Woody watched Mikey glance down at his present before Mikey turned that mega-watt smile back up to him. Woody winked at him before ducking his head back inside his apartment window.

Mikey tucked the bag of jelly beans into his belt, next to the scrap of paper that held Sadie's email address for Donatello, and headed for the closest manhole cover to head home.

* * *

 **A/N** : So this was supposed to be a chapter on how _Donnie and Sadie_ met. But Woody and Mikey got involved (and clearly took over the chapter) and poor D &S will have to wait for their own chapter once again.

I've actually made a lot of references to these early years with Mikey and Woody in the entire Promise series so I had to go back and re-read some of those details to hopefully make this all make sense. Please excuse any inconsistencies.


	11. A Fateful Nudge

He wasn't sure how many days it had been since he'd arrived in New York City, but he _was_ sure he couldn't sit and stare at his hotel room walls any longer.

So he left the small room and began walking without seeing down random sidewalks. He crossed streets at random and pure instinct was the only thing that kept him from being run over by random yellow cars that flew by.

Then he found himself in a small pet shop, planted quietly in front of bird cages. Although it wasn't the chirping birds he was listening to. Instead, he watched a small family who stood laughing together nearby.

"No, no way," the wife said, laughing.

The husband lifted a small blonde girl up into his arms and tilted her so that she could see into the large glass tank where they stood.

"Why not?" he asked her with a wide grin, clearly teasing his wife.

"Like you have to ask," she answered back, rubbing her hands over her large, pregnant belly. "Between this one," she said, leaning forward to rub noses with their little daughter, "and the _infant_ that let me remind you will be here at any moment, I do not have time to take care of baby turtles!"

"Can I have turtle?" the little girl asked, turning her attention away from the turtles to smile up at her mother.

The wife sighed dramatically and shot her husband a mock evil eye. "I don't even know why I let you drag me in here," she muttered to him before turning back to their daughter. "No, honey, no turtle today. But I promise you can have a baby brother." She seemed to tense for a moment as her hand rubbed over her belly again. "And soon."

The little girl's face scrunched up. She still wasn't sure what that meant. She wriggled her way out of her dad's arms as she listened to her parents' happy back and forth voices and stood on the ground once again. She lifted herself up on her toes so that she could be eye level with the little turtles in the glass tank. One of the turtles walked over to where she stood and bumped his nose into the glass right where she had her nose pressed.

"Hi," she whispered back with a giggle to the little brown-eyed turtle. She ducked her head down and then popped back up and grinned at the turtle again when she caught him trying to peer down the side of the enclosure to find her.

Yoshi moved away from the birds but forced himself to keep watching this happy little family as a painful reminder of what he'd had and of what he'd let slip through his fingers. He watched as the little girl continued to play peek-a-boo with the turtle who, he had to admit, appeared to be intently trying to follow the little blonde when she disappeared from view.

He glanced down at the display where he now stood and picked up a glass bowl as he heard the wife announce that it was _definitely time to go_. The little girl pressed a finger to the side of the glass cage where the turtle still sat.

"Turtle?" she asked.

"Maybe you can have a turtle when you're a little older, Sadie," the mother said, reaching out for the little girl's hand before leading them towards the exit. "Right now, its time for a baby brother."

Yoshi watched as the wife's face tensed again as she stopped mid-step to exhale loudly.

"You're not kidding!" the husband said, wrapping both of his arms around her shoulders.

"I wasn't kidding _before_ we stopped in here," she grit out.

The husband kissed her forehead before running out to the sidewalk to hail a taxi. Yoshi watched them all go and found himself sending positive thoughts for a safe and healthy delivery.

Then he wandered closer to the turtle tank and peered in himself. He often wondered if Shen and Miwa watched over him. And after seeing how happy the turtle had seemed to make the little girl just now, he wondered if they would enjoy watching over some turtles as well. He was still deep in thought when an employee came over to see if he needed help.

His voice was hoarse from disuse when he spoke. But he lifted his gaze from the turtles to the young teen and lifted the glass bowl he held towards the boy, "Is this large enough for all four turtles?"


	12. Meeting of the Minds

Donnie sat at his lab table and stared at the blinking cursor on the blank laptop screen in front of him. He glanced back down at the email address on the torn piece of notebook paper Mikey had given him. So far, he'd only managed to stare at it.

He left the lab and headed into the garage. It was late enough that Raphael should be asleep, which would let him work on the shellcycle secretly. He immediately began attaching the newest pieces he'd found at the junkyard and tried and failed to ignore the real reason he hadn't contacted Woody's sister yet. Despite who he was and where he lived, he _had_ actually tried to have a relationship with a human in the past.

So maybe he had been taken with April because she was the first human girl he'd ever seen. _No_ , he corrected himself, not _taken with her_ , but hopelessly, stupidly in love with her at first sight. She'd been at the center of almost all of his thoughts and he wasn't sure he wanted to pursue anything that could have that kind of overpowering control over him again. And while part of him was happy to no longer be part of the weird, competitive love triangle he'd been in for the past few years, it had still stung when she'd picked the toothless hockey moron over him.

His brothers had done their best to soothe the hurt. There were no _I told you so_ remarks, and even Raphael, Casey's own best friend, had said that April was obviously an idiot.

Donnie didn't think she was an idiot. After the years they'd spent battling the Kraang and the Shredder, he thought she was just _done_ with abnormal. And Casey Jones was human, and therefore normal. Something Donatello could never be. And in the past year that he'd had to watch April and Casey together, _actually together_ , he thought maybe she'd made the right choice. After all, Casey could be seen with her in public. He took her to their senior prom. He could do things with her during the day and go on dates that didn't involve the sewer.

Donatello had avoided the two of them for as long as he could. Until April cornered him one night and practically begged him to spend time with her. He'd been reluctant. But she was nothing if not stubborn. So she began bringing her college schoolwork into the lair and making herself at home at his lab table until eventually his curiosity for her college textbooks got the better of him.

Although Donatello wasn't in any rush to try to fix his strained relationship with Casey. And Casey was wisely keeping his distance. Casey was rarely in the lair, anyway, and when Raphael would disappear on his own on the nights April showed up to do her homework, Donnie would keep his mouth shut since he didn't want to hear about Raph's vigilante nights out with Casey.

But he and April were beginning to be just friends again. A real friendship that wasn't clouded with his previous nervous stumbling.

And maybe that was why he was avoiding the scrap of paper that held that email address. He could try to rationalize that since he was older now and had learned from his experience with April, that he wouldn't turn into a nervous, stumbling idiot around another girl. But he couldn't know that for sure without having all the variables in place, mainly meeting another girl face to face, and by then it would be too late to know if it was a good idea or not.

Plus, there was nothing he could do about the fact that he wasn't human. He would always be a turtle.

He paused in his work and thought about Mikey and Woody. Woody didn't seem to mind at all that Mikey was a turtle. In fact, the way Woody looked at Mikey made Donnie wonder if Woody even noticed the turtle part.

Was he surprised that out of the four of them, Mikey had managed to be the first to develop a seemingly mature and _real_ relationship?

Shell yes. Yes he was.

Mikey had introduced them to Woody several months ago. Big surprise there, Mikey had befriended someone who worked for their favorite pizzeria. Leo had been pissed. Like royally-turned-a-little-red-in-the-face-pissed when Mikey sat them down and said he'd made friends with a human. It had been a little bit funny.

Okay a lot funny.

Part of Leo's fury was obviously that Mikey had revealed himself to a human, but Donnie could also see Leo's clear worry that their seemingly gullible baby brother was setting himself up to be hurt by someone who would take advantage of him.

But Mikey had done something that surprised all three of them at that accusation. His shell had straightened and his blue eyes had steeled in determination, in a way that had reminded Donnie of Leo's own fierce gaze, as he asserted that Woody was a real friend who truly cared about him.

Friend. Donnie had been pretty sure at that very moment that Mikey thought of Woody as more than a friend. And since he'd been wading through the middle of his own heartache back then, he hadn't been overly supportive of Mikey's new _friend_. But, so far, Woody had proven himself to be a steady and loyal presence in Mikey's life. And Woody was actually supposed to come to the lair for the first time in a couple weeks for Raph's surprise birthday party.

Donnie re-covered the shellcycle so Raphael wouldn't notice that he'd been working on it and put his tools away before heading back to his lab. Even if he didn't think it would lead anywhere, he knew Mikey wasn't going to stop pestering him until he finally sent an email. He sighed as he sat down in front of his laptop again.

And his eyes widened when he found a brand new email waiting for him in his inbox.

 _Hi Donnie,_

 _Mikey gave me your email address and encouraged me to email you. And by encouraged, I mean he pulled out the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes I've ever seen and begged me to email you. I'm still getting to know him - does he do that often?_

 _This is Sadie by the way. I'm Woody's older sister. Mikey says to tell you I'm very smart. But I'm pretty sure he's forcing this email because he just had to sit and listen to me complain about my upcoming organic chemistry midterm at dinner. His and Woody's eyes definitely glazed over two minutes in. I love my biotech classes, but the sheer number of chemistry classes required for the degree is driving me crazy._

 _So Mikey suggested (begged) that I email his genius big (?) brother for help with a particularly troublesome problem. Mikey has mentioned that you're usually pretty busy working in your own lab, so if you don't have time to look over this stuff, I understand._

 _Have a good night,_

 _Sadie_

Donnie read through the email twice. It was a completely normal, mature email. From a girl who knew he was a turtle.

Well, he thought to himself, he could either try to be a completely normal, mature turtle and respond, or he could huddle into his shell and try to ignore her.

"Okay, Mikey," he muttered as he downloaded the chemistry problem she'd attached.

 _Hi Sadie,_

 _I'm scanning in my work on that problem and attaching it to this email. My brothers always complain that they can't read my handwriting so I hope you can decipher it. It was a pretty complicated equation. Hopefully your professor goes easier on you and classmates on the actual exam._

 _So, to answer your question, my brothers and I are probably all the same age. You've met Mikey so you know I'm not exaggerating when I say that our origin is a tad unusual. But at some point, Mikey did become the designated baby brother. I guess its something else that he and Woody have in common. We have a mutation day that we mark every year, but at some point, our father also gave us designated birthdays. I think it was so that we could each have something that was our own._

 _And yes, beware the puppy dog eyes._

 _Have a good day,_

 _Donnie_

* * *

Donnie was the last to stumble into the kitchen the next morning and he gratefully reached for the cup of coffee Mikey was offering him. Mikey snatched the coffee away at the last moment, though, and raised an eye ridge in question.

Donnie sighed. "Yes, Mikey. I responded to her email." He reached again for the steaming mug.

But instead of handing over the cup, Mikey shielded it behind his own shell. "A real email back? With real words? Not just science-y equation crap, right?"

Donnie tried to reach around Mike's shell for the coffee, but Mikey twisted away easily and moved to the other side of their kitchen island. He planted himself behind where Raph and Leo sat eating breakfast. Donnie growled, frustrated with his slow, lead-filled, sleepy limbs for being unable to keep up with the smaller turtle this early in the morning.

"Yer really challengin the morning beast there, Mike," Raph said between bites of cereal. He heard Leo laugh beside him and froze in the next moment when he turned and found Leo's face lit up with a grin aimed directly at him. His thoughts about Leo's eyes and Leo's face were interrupted by Donnie's response and he jerked his face back to his own breakfast.

"Yes, real words," Donnie said.

"Great," Mikey said cheerily as he practically skipped back around the island and handed Donnie his mug. "Please enjoy your coffee."

Donnie gave a half-hearted growl as he slumped down in his seat and gratefully began drinking his required wake-up cup.

* * *

 _Donnie,_

 _Your work on that problem was amazing. You made it look entirely too easy. So much so that I wouldn't even mind if a similar problem showed up on the exam because I finally understand how to solve it! Thank you. Have you taken chemistry classes?_

 _So if Mikey is the baby, where does that place you in the lineup?_

 _Best, Sadie_

* * *

 _Hi Sadie,_

 _No, no chemistry classes. I'm mainly self-taught. Although, I wouldn't mind taking classes, but I'm not sure how that could work out._

 _Anyway, I guess I'm one of the middle brothers._

Donnie sat back and stared at the screen. He was pleased he had been able to help Sadie with her schoolwork. And so far, responding to her emails was rather easy. But he realized he had really _only responded_ to her emails. She'd asked questions and he answered them.

He was still sitting there wondering what else he could add to his email when Leo walked into the lab. He decided to go to his big brother for help.

"If you were a girl, what kind of question would you want me to ask you?"

Leo stopped in his tracks and immediately rubbed his hand over the back of his neck nervously.

"Um, what?"

"Say I wanted to learn more about you, what kind of question should I ask to prompt you to open up and share?"

"I'm pretty sure you already know all about me, Donnie," Leo said with half a grin, doing his best to evade the question.

Donnie rolled his eyes at him as Raphael appeared in the lab doorway.

"Hey, I'm headed out," Raph said. He still didn't mention Casey's name in front of Donatello, even though everyone in the room knew who he was going to meet. Leo didn't meet his eyes but he waited until he saw Leo's nod of acknowledgement before he turned and left.

"I'm really no good at relationships, Donnie," Leo said, his eyes pinned to the ground in front of him. "Maybe you should ask Mikey?" He paused and Donnie watched as a grin suddenly appeared on Leo's face before he looked up and said, "There's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

Donnie chuckled with him before they were interrupted again as they heard April call out from the lair's entrance. They left the lab and quickly moved to help unload her of some of the packages she'd managed to carry down to them.

"I knew Raph was going to be out," she explained, "so I thought I'd start bringing some of this stuff down."

Leo took the box April offered to him as he was once again reminded that Raphael was out playing with Casey. He opened it and peered in at the red motorcycle helmet he'd ordered.

"Thanks again for letting us use your apartment for shipping, April," Leo said. "I'm going to stash this in my room and then head out for a run."

April and Donnie nodded to him absentmindedly in return as Donnie looked through some of the other packages.

"You should've called us to come pick this up instead of carrying it all down yourself, April," Donnie said, as he took the rest of the packages filled with the party supplies Mikey had ordered and headed back towards his lab.

April followed him and watched as he quickly stashed the bags in one of his lab cabinets.

"This stuff will probably be safer in here than in Michelangelo's room," he muttered. He listened to April laugh as he returned to his lab stool. He sat considering her for a moment as she began pulling out her books on the other side of the table.

"What's up?" she asked, feeling his eyes on her.

"Um, well, let's say you were a girl -,"

"I am."

"Right. Right. But let's say you were a girl I didn't know. And you were emailing me and you had asked some personal questions in the emails. That shows a level of interest, right?" He continued before she could even nod her head. "And-and, I'd like to return that level of interest, but I don't know the perfect question to ask to learn more about you. Do you have any suggestions for what that might be?"

April sat back on her stool, suddenly full of questions herself. She swallowed them down, however, and decided to focus on the question Donnie was asking her. She wanted to be his friend, after all, and she wasn't going to waste this chance to actually _be_ his friend.

"Well, Donnie, there is no perfect question," she said with a small shrug. "And really you might not even need a question. Maybe just write as if she was in front of you and see what comes of it? She'll probably just start naturally sharing in repsonse."

Donnie nodded thoughtfully and picked up a pencil to tap against the side of his mouth. He returned his eyes to April's when she began speaking again.

"Just -," she said, meeting his eyes with a slightly intense look of her own, "maybe start small, first. And then go from there."

His earlier fears about letting his heart go too far too fast suddenly returned. But he found he wasn't as nervous as he'd been before the emails had started. He offered April a thankful smile and pulled his email back up on his laptop.

April watched as Donnie's tongue appeared between his teeth as his fingers flew over keyboard. She gave herself a little nod and tuned her focus to her homework.

* * *

The apartment was dark when Sadie entered. Her earlier experiment in the research lab had completely failed and she'd had to stay late to set the whole process up again, which meant she was arriving home close to midnight.

Legally, Woody was an adult now, but she still crept to his door and stuck her head in his room briefly to make sure he was home and safe. She had texted him earlier to let him know she was going to miss dinner and her guilt about leaving him alone was quickly diminished when he texted back and said Mikey was going to come over for dinner. Her fondness for Mikey was growing fast.

She silently closed the door and stared at the handle for a moment as it suddenly occurred to her that with Mikey around, maybe she shouldn't be randomly checking in on Woody in his room anymore.

She quickly moved away from his room and headed into her own. She looked longingly at her own bed as she flipped on her laptop. But her day still wasn't finished. While she wished the seemingly all-consuming research lab was her only responsibility, she still had plenty of work from her actual classes to work on as well.

But as she sat in her desk chair, she couldn't help but pull her email up first. She chewed on her lower lip as an unfamiliar sensation filled her chest as she waited for the website to finally connect. What was that she was feeling? Nerves? Hope?

"Yes and yes," she whispered to herself. Although, it was happiness that blossomed as soon as she spotted a new email from Donatello in her inbox. She read through the first part and then reached his explanation that he was one of the two middle turtle brothers.

 _Leo is definitely the big brother, a role he takes very seriously. You can probably relate, being the eldest yourself. I know we haven't met, but I have heard enough about Woody from Mikey to know that you stepped in immediately when you were needed. I've seen Leo in action enough times to know how hard it is to be the eldest, and to shoulder responsibility for everyone. I don't really thank Leo enough, but take it from someone who is also a little brother, your efforts are always appreciated._

Sadie swallowed over a lump in her throat and tears filled her eyes as Donatello's words hit home. She knew Woody appreciated her, and she appreciated him right back. But there was something deeply filling in being told that she was doing a good job. That her hard work was paying off.

She rubbed at her eyes so she could focus on the screen again as he began sharing with her some of the details from one of the several projects he was currently working on.

She read through his email once more before she forced herself to switch gears and work on her schoolwork. But before she went to bed, she typed out an email to him in return.

 _Dear Donnie,_

 _Its super late and I have to be awake for class in approximately four hours (thank the heavens for coffee), but I really felt the need to respond to your email before bed to let you know how much I appreciate your words. It has been difficult, to say the least, without our parents around. But you've honestly given me hope that I'm doing okay not only for Woody, but for myself as well._

 _You should also know that even if you aren't the eldest, you do a pretty great job at being a big brother. Mikey has mentioned Leo and Raphael during his dinners here with us, and he clearly idolizes all three of you, but he goes on and on about what a genius you are and insists that your family would be living "in the stone age" if it wasn't for you and your inventions. And it's endearing, to me at least, to know that Woody has become involved with someone who's so close to his own family._

 _I'd love to see what you're working on. Maybe you can bring something over here? Have dinner with us? I hope you say yes._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Sadie_

Another thought occurred to Sadie and she did a quick online search before returning to her email to Donatello.

 _P.S. I'm attaching an application for an online GED test. You'll need it before you can apply to an online college. Just do it. See what happens._

* * *

Sadie hit the snooze button as many times as she possibly could before she finally pushed herself out of the bed the next morning. She didn't really have the time, but pulled up her email anyway to see if she had anything from Donatello. He'd indicated in his last email that he did his best work at night while the others were asleep – _fewer interruptions_ \- and she had been secretly hoping that he'd still been awake when she sent her own email response just a few hours ago.

Her inbox was empty, however, and she did her best not to be disappointed as she got dressed. She tried to convince herself that maybe Donnie just hadn't seen her email yet. But she couldn't keep random thoughts from racing through her head, like maybe he had seen it and it had scared him off. Maybe she was overstepping by asking him over for dinner after just a few emails had been exchanged between them. Hadn't Woody said he'd talked to Mikey for months before they actually saw each other in person? She didn't know what the proper etiquette was. She just didn't date.

Her cheeks flushed as she realized she was actually thinking about dating. She never thought about dating. She was always too busy with school. And yet, someone had arrived, albeit via email only so far, who had her immediately thinking about it.

She pulled her hair up into a bun as she walked out to the main room where she found Woody cooking breakfast.

"I don't have time to eat, Woody," she called out as she stuffed her notebooks into her bag.

"I figured," Woody said. "I heard your alarm go off like eighteen times."

"Sorry," she said. "I should be home for dinner tonight, though."

"No worries," Woody said, grinning at her.

"I'll see you later," she said, looping her crossover bag over her head.

"You should check the weather before you go," Woody called out.

Sadie stopped and looked down at her outfit. It was early spring and probably chillier than she was expecting, but she didn't really have time to change. But she moved quickly to one of their windows and slid it open to humor Woody.

Her mouth dropped open when she spotted an unexpected travel mug sitting on their fire escape. She gingerly picked it up and was rewarded with steam and the delicious smell of coffee as she slid open the lid. She tilted her head and found a small note taped to the side of the cup - _Thank the heavens for coffee, indeed._

Her grin practically hurt her cheeks as she pulled the cup into the apartment and turned with a raised eyebrow at her brother.

"Did you see him here?"

Woody shook his head, a small smile on his face. He'd only received a text from Mikey asking him to send Sadie to the fire escape before she left. "No, but they are ninja."

She tilted her head at him. "I think that will have to be our first topic of conversation at dinner tonight," she said before she exited the apartment, sipping her coffee treat.

Mikey and Donnie watched Sadie close the fire escape window from where they sat perched and Mikey quickly elbowed Donnie's side. Donnie adjusted quickly so that no precious coffee was lost from his own travel mug due to Mikey's rough nudge.

"Good call on the coffee, D," Mikey said with a grin. He turned and studied Donatello's face, waiting for a reaction. Surprisingly, he couldn't tell what Donnie was thinking. "She doesn't have curly hair, but she's pretty, right?"

He waited as Donnie remained silent, although his brother's eyes were still pinned on the closed window. Mikey wasn't sure what it was that had him pushing this so hard. But something in his gut told him that Donnie and Sadie were supposed to meet.

Donnie finally released the breath he'd been holding since Sadie had first appeared at her fire escape. He thought of her appreciation for his most recent email and her own sincere words in response. Of her immediate encouragement that he pursue a degree, which was a dream he hadn't even shared with his own brothers. Of her clear night owl habits. Of her believably sincere interest in his work. And of her smile when she saw his note on the coffee cup.

And good heavens, on top of everything that he already knew about her, she turned out to be beautiful as well.

"You'll come to dinner tonight, right?" Mikey asked.

Donnie turned to Mikey and found Mike's eyes staring intently back at him. There was no begging, no pouting, and no puppy dog eyes. Mikey wanted him to say yes for no other reason than because _he_ wanted to be there.

He grinned at Mikey. So much for not letting his heart rush things this time around.

* * *

"Listen, Sadie, I'm going to go up on the rooftop for a little bit."

"What? Why?" Sadie asked. She rushed out of her bedroom and found Woody already halfway out the window on the fire escape. "Is that thing safe?"

Woody glanced out at the metal ladder system. "Well, uh, Mikey's over two hundred pounds and he leaps on and off of it all the time, so I'm going to say yes, it appears pretty sturdy."

"Why are you leaving?"

Woody grinned at her. "I just wanted to give you a little privacy to meet your new friend. You don't need little brothers standing here staring at you, right?"

Sadie smiled at the thoughtful gesture. "You'll come back down for dinner?"

Woody nodded.

"Okay," Sadie said, as her nerves revved up. Because if Woody was leaving, then that meant Donnie would be here soon. She suddenly wondered if this was such a good idea. She had no real time to date, right? And although she thought Mikey was adorable, she had no earthly clue what Donnie looked like. Maybe she should've asked for a picture first, just to be pre-

"Hey," Woody said as he watched Sadie actually look worried. "You're gonna like him."

Sadie nodded, thankful to her brother for interrupting her chaotic thoughts, and watched as Woody moved the rest of the way through the window. She turned her back to the window and chewed on her bottom lip as she ran through the pros and cons of this meeting. Then rolled her eyes at herself for making up a pros and cons list in the first place.

"Such a nerd," she muttered.

"Who's a nerd?"

Sadie spun back around and stared at the turtle who was suddenly on her fire escape with his hand raised, ready to knock on the window.

"Sorry, I heard you -,"

"Talking to myself," Sadie said with a short laugh and a self-deprecating headshake. "Please come in."

Donnie moved through the window and found that once he was inside and just a few feet away from her, all of the nervous energy he'd felt building up on his trip here disappeared. He noticed her intently looking him over, but he found himself completely at ease in front of her, in a way that he rarely ever was with anyone outside of his brothers.

Once he was inside the apartment and able to straighten himself upright, Sadie was immediately impressed with how tall he was. His eyes were wrapped with her favorite shade of purple and her nerves flittered away when their eyes locked and she saw warmth and intelligence shining out of those brown eyes.

"They say those with the best scientific minds often talk to themselves," Donnie said.

She soaked in the sound of his voice for a moment before responding.

"Who says?"

"Mostly me," Donnie replied with a smile.

Sadie quickly grinned in return when she saw his gap-toothed grin.

"And usually I'm just saying it to make myself feel better-,"

"When you catch yourself talking to yourself?" Sadie asked with a laugh as she felt butterflies dance in her stomach.

Donnie grinned wider and nodded in response.

"It's nice to meet you, Donatello."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Sadie."

* * *

Donnie poured one solution into another and then watched closely for the reaction. He made some notes in his tablet, but stopped when his T-phone lit up with a loud beep that indicated he had a new email.

He had recently updated the technology on his original de-radiation tool, the one the government had purchased from him so many years ago when he'd been fresh out of graduate school. And now he was expecting an email with details of a new purchase agreement for the updated, patented blueprints. He pushed his email button and his newest email immediately filled the screen.

 _Mr. Hamato,_

 _If you don't get your cute turtle butt out of that lab and into our apartment right now I will be forced to -_

The stairwell door swung shut behind him as he rushed through it to head upstairs.

* * *

 **A/N** : A few people have asked how Donnie and Sadie met and this was pretty much what I had always pictured in my brain, leading up to Raphael's surprise birthday party in "Promise" when both Sadie and Woody get to visit the lair for the first time. This is clearly a monster of a chapter but I just couldn't make it any shorter!


	13. Fathers' Favorite Moments

He carried the little one across the room before turning and pacing back the way he had come while listening to the steady footfalls of the little turtle who followed his every step. He'd given up, an hour ago, trying to persuade Raphael to return to bed as he carried the fevered Leonardo.

Leonardo, thankfully, after two days with almost no rest due to a deep cough, had finally fallen asleep in Splinter's arms as he carried him upright, permitting the tiny four-year old to finally breathe and then sleep, miraculously at the same time.

While he'd been successful in keeping Donatello and Michelangelo separate, he'd also been unable to persuade Raphael to keep away from the sick turtle. Instead, he kept finding Raphael hovering over Leonardo, his green eyes wide with worry. He was pretty sure it was a medical miracle that Raphael hadn't come down with this fevered illness, although he had noted over the past few years that Raphael didn't get sick the way the other three boys did.

And he had to give Raphael credit, because the last time he'd risen to check on his sick son, he found Raphael using his own shell to try to prop up the coughing Leonardo. The sight finally prompted Splinter to do what he could to keep Leonardo upright, but comfortable enough to try to sleep.

Trusting that Leonardo was truly asleep now, he eased himself down into his recliner. Leonardo startled slightly when he sat, but his head remained heavy on Splinter's shoulder and Splinter relaxed a moment later when it was clear that the little one was going to remain asleep.

Splinter lifted an arm and invited Raphael into his lap. He watched the little turtle hesitate. Despite the affection he easily shared with Leonardo, Raphael didn't cuddle easily with anyone else. But with Leonardo slumped against one side of his chest, Splinter wasn't surprised when Raphael climbed up into his lap and settled against him as well. Nor was he surprised when Raphael's fingers found one of Leonardo's hands before he finally settled into sleep.

Splinter rested his head against the back of the chair. He didn't enjoy illness in his children, but he secretly enjoyed this moment, where he could hear the peaceful breathing of Donatello and Michelangelo across the room, while Leonardo and Raphael were curled against him, finally resting as well.

* * *

Leo slipped silently back into their apartment armed with medical advice from Dr. Donnie regarding the persistent cough that had kept not only Machi, but also himself, Raphael and Akito, awake for the past several hours. It was the first time one of the kids had become sick since moving in with them, and he and Raph had crankily gone back and forth earlier over giving the little fox medicine created for human children.

He immediately spotted Raphael on the couch in the dark room and moved that way, already armed with the correct dose of medication for their daughter. But he stopped when he realized that Raphael was actually asleep where he sat, his head tipped forward so that his chin almost touched his armored chest. And with his hands meeting in his lap, Leo could see that Raph's arms were providing the perfect curve for Machi to comfortably snuggle into Raph's plastron, while remaining fairly upright, allowing her to finally breathe and sleep comfortably, miraculously at the same time.

Leo smiled softly at the sight. He set the medication down on the coffee table where Raphael currently had his feet resting, so that he could slowly cover them both with a blanket. Then he settled himself on the couch as well, facing Raphael, so that he could continue to watch his mate and daughter sleep until his own eyes grew heavy enough to close as well.


	14. In the Early Morning Hours

He was awoken to a familiar and typically welcome sensation. Still, it was damn early. Freakishly, horrendously, unnaturally _early_. So he immediately began to grumble.

"No."

Given that the husky, sleep-filled voice had the exact opposite effect than was intended, Leo ignored the protest and continued what he was doing to Raphael's neck.

"It's still dark out," Raph muttered.

Leo pressed his tongue against a particularly sensitive spot on Raph's neck and let a churr vibrate the both of them. He resisted the urge to grin as Raphael moaned in response.

"I'm not meditatin with ya this morning," Raph added, although he realized he was steadily losing the battle to go back to sleep against Leo's unique wake-up technique.

Leo hummed as if the thought was the furthest thing from his mind as he focused on how delicious Raphael's neck was. He inhaled Raphael's scent and bit lightly where his mouth currently was until another spot on Raph's neck grabbed his attention.

"I mean it," Raph grumbled, tilting his head back as he felt Leo's tongue work across his neck. "I'm not gettin up with ya."

"Are you sure?" Leo whispered, letting his hand slide down Raph's plastron to rub at the cartilage over his slit. "You're sure you're not going to get _up_ with me, Raphie?"

Raphael moaned again.

Leo's grin returned as he shifted one of his legs so that he could slide it between Raph's legs. "My lips belong on your neck," he murmured.

"I can think of a few other places yer lips belong," Raph murmured while tightening the fingers he had wrapped around one of Leo's shoulders.

"Really?" Leo asked as he sank further into Raphael's side at the sound of Raph's still sleep-filled, husky voice. "Like where?"

"Maybe I should make ya guess," Raph said, cracking an eye open to look at Leo. "Seein as how yer so wide awake this morning," he added with a grumble. He watched as Leo's blue eyes met his and darkened. He lifted his free hand and rubbed his thumb back and forth over Leo's cheek.

"That sounds like a fun challenge," Leo whispered as he rubbed his face back against Raph's warm hand before leaning down to press his lips against Raphael's.

It didn't matter how many times they'd kissed in the past, something sparked in Leo every time. He let his lips slowly move with Raphael's lips as their tongues twisted together. He loved this. Although it was a little cruel to wake Raphael this early, he truly loved these early morning hours when no one else needed him for anything and he could take all the time in the world to leisurely lavish Raphael with unhurried affection.

He broke their kiss to continue his exploration of Raphael's body with his tongue, beginning with Raph's collarbones, which he also grazed with his teeth. He was rewarded with a groan from his favorite turtle and spent some time working over the collarbones and expanding to Raph's shoulders. Unfortunately, he had to shift himself away from Raph in order to begin working his tongue down Raph's arm, but it was worth it to trail over the lines defining Raphael's bicep, before running his tongue over his own mark.

"It's always been such an honor to be your mate, Raphael," Leo whispered to him. "To be the one you chose." His eyes met Raph's eyes again and he stilled for a moment just to greedily bask in the love he could see in those green eyes.

Raphael wrapped his hands tightly around Leo's shoulders and pulled him forward so that he could cover Leo's mouth with his own and give him a hard kiss before whispering to him, "Ya know that's how I feel about you, right?"

Leo smiled softly at him and nodded. Raphael smiled as well and tried to pull Leo's face back down to meet his again. But Leo resisted the pull and then smirked down at Raph's confused scowl.

"I have a challenge to finish," Leo whispered and ducked down to dip his tongue over Raph's unique lightning bolt scar. He shifted himself again, moving to kneel in between Raphael's legs so he could easily run his tongue over Raphael's golden plastron. He let his hands slide up and down Raph's sides and listened to Raphael's churr-filled heavy exhales as he worked. His tongue pressed into the plastron's cartilage and spent a teasingly short amount of time swiping over Raphael's slit before he moved down to Raphael's legs.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Leo watched as Raphael fisted their sheets when he could no longer reach Leo's shoulders. He listened to the rumbling churrs and groans and felt his own churrs rise up his throat in response. He loved the noises he could pull from his favorite turtle just by doing things he loved doing anyway to Raphael's body. Although, he did let out a chuckle when he heard something that sounded damn close to a giggle from Raphael when his tongue circled one of Raph's knees.

Leo did his best to send an apologetic look up to his mate for the unintentional tickling, although he was having a hard time appearing sincere with his shoulders shaking in a silent laugh. He watched as Raphael glared down at him and, deciding that Raphael's legs had had adequate attention, moved himself forward to use his tongue for one his favorite Raphael-related activities.

A loud churr ripped out of Raph's throat as he dropped down and was immediately pulled into Leo's mouth and towards Leo's throat. Raphael was already worked up with heat and pressure building in his middle after Leo's worshipful tongue treatment, so he did his best to restrain himself from thrusting forward into Leo's mouth now. His eyes met Leo's blue eyes before he pressed his eyes shut as he felt one of Leo's fingers rub at his entrance and then press inward. With that added sensation, he was unable to keep his hips still and he groaned out Leo's name as Leo adjusted easily to Raphael's thrusting movements. Raph had Leo's shoulder in a hard grip and came only a few moments later with a growl-filled churr.

Leo released Raphael and pulled back only after Raph's movements had completely stilled. He lifted himself on his hands and knees above Raphael and allowed himself another chance to slowly admire Raphael's handsome face. Raphael was flushed. And panting. And beautiful. And Leo was as determined as ever to make sure Raph knew it.

"I love you, Raphael," he murmured, which prompted Raphael's eyes to open and meet his again. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Aishiteru, Leo," Raph moaned, because _holy hell_ Leo was making damn sure Raph knew how much he was loved this morning. He wrapped a leg up around Leo's shell and pulled him down towards him, almost lining Leo's hard, ready length up with himself with that one insistent pull. "Leo," he moaned again, as Leo quickly got the hint and pressed himself forward into Raphael. He pulled Leo's face back down to his own and kissed him hard as Leo began to thrust into him.

Leo broke the kiss with a curse as he ducked his face into Raph's neck and breathed in the scent that had woken him earlier and started this entire intimate activity. He listened to Raph moan out his name again and again and heard what Raphael was saying with each utterance. He knew how deeply he was loved by the turtle beneath him and he bit into that emerald neck with a finish that had him seeing spots.

Leo panted into Raph's neck and was focusing on how good it felt to have Raph's arms and legs wrapped tightly around his shell when Raphael rolled them and Leo suddenly found himself pinned beneath his favorite turtle.

"I hope you feel as loved as I feel, Leonardo," Raph whispered down to him.

Leo peered up at Raph's serious expression before he ran a hand down the side of that emerald face and whispered back, "Always." He had to smile when Raphael looked strangely relieved by his answer. He pulled Raph's face down for another kiss and then glanced over at the clock on his bedside table. Half his mouth lifted up in a teasing grin. "I wasn't waking you for meditation, Raphie, but since you're already awake?"

Raphael groaned and flopped his weight down onto Leo. "Fine," he growled after a few moments. "Ya jerk."


	15. Stamina

**A/N: Guys. GUYS – I'm sorry this is not a new story - I just need to share with people who will understand my excitement (although I am working on a couple new chapters).**

 **"Stamina" (posted below) came in 3** **rd** **place in the category of "Best Comedy" in the Stealthy Stories 2015 Fanfiction Competition!**

 **I'm beyond excited. This story was written while I was still writing "Promise" (and later included inside a chapter in that story). Therefore, making it my very first one-shot and one of the first things I posted since I began writing TMNT fanfiction. I just can't tell you what an honor it is to see it included in this competition full of stories and authors I myself have been following for quite some time.**

 **Big THANK YOU to those of you voted for this story (and of course to whoever nominated it in the first place).**

 **Also, if you go to the original post of this story on my profile page, I changed the cover art to the certificate the story was awarded, which includes really awesome (and adorable) artwork from silver-moon-rabbit.**

* * *

 **Original A/N: Honestly, I don't swear that much, if at all, so I'm not sure why I found this so funny. But I do. And I hope you do, too.**

* * *

It was late one night and they were sitting at the kitchen table playing a card game. Leo wasn't even sure how the topic had come up.

"I'm just not sure you even know that many curse words," Raph said.

"Seriously? After listening to you for how many years?" Leo flicked a card into the center of the table. "Do you know that you once called me a goddamn pile of frog shit?"

Raph had the decency to pretend to look contrite.

"Still," Raph continued as he threw another card into the center pile, "I get it. Yer honor-bound brain just doesn't allow such profanities to fly out of yer honor-bound mouth."

"Really?" Leo asked, shooting him an amused look.

"It's like there's a switch in yer head that prevents it," Raph said, almost whispering to himself. He tilted his head and his green eyes studied Leo's head as if he could see inside it.

"You're hilarious," Leo said, dryly. He tossed another card to the pile.

"Not to worry," Raph said, smacking his hand down on the table. "Its not your fuckin fault and I'm here for you. I'll swear enough for the both of us. Shit," he said, adding the last word just to make his point.

"You feel as though the universe requires a certain number of swear words spewed into its atmosphere every day?"

"Abso-fuckin-lutely."

"And you don't think I'm carrying my own weight in this department?"

Raphael could feel a challenge coming and grinned inwardly. He tossed out another card.

"I believe we have found something, Fearless, where you come up short."

Leo narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Want to bet?"

"I'm pretty sure you don't know how to do that either. You have noticed that you talked me into playing war instead of poker, right?"

"So you _don't_ want to bet?" Leo asked.

"Fine," Raph said, sighing dramatically. "What are the terms?" he leaned forward, his mischievous smile showing off most of his teeth.

"I will cover our share of cussing for the universe for one week, which means that you will refrain -"

"Hey –"

"You don't think you can stop?" Leo asked, innocently. "For one short little week?"

It was Raphael's turn to narrow his eyes at his brother.

"The only condition will be no swearing expected in front of sensei," Leo continued.

"And what do I get when I win?"

"What do you want?"

"I want you to go for a ride on my bike with me."

Leo considered and then nodded.

"And you?" Raphael asked, a smug look on his face as though he knew it wouldn't matter what Leo said since he fully intended to win the bet.

"I want you to agree to do whatever I want for one whole night, without arguing."

"When do I argue with you?"

"You're arguing with me right now."

"When do we start?"

"Right no-"

"Wait!" Raph said, holding up his hand. "Goddamn pile of frog shit. Fuck."

Leo raised an eyeridge. "You good?"

"Lets do this, Fearless."

* * *

At first it was fun. The looks on Donnie's and Mikey's shocked faces were well worth it every time Leo let a swear word fly out.

It was a little harder than Raphael thought it was going to be to keep the profanities out of his own vocabulary. He caught himself a couple times. But overall, he was feeling pretty confident. He could already see Leo sitting on the back of his bike, holding onto him as they sped through the city.

Two days later, however, he found himself flinching every time Leo cursed.

Every. Single. Time.

It just wasn't right. He thought he'd enjoy this. Hell, he thought it'd be kind of hot. And maybe in bed it would be. But in every day conversation? It just didn't sound right coming out Leo's mouth.

Leo may be the leader and Leo may be a deadly fighter, but Leo's face still looked rather innocent to Raphael. Leo moved with the grace of a swan for fuck's sake. The swear words were unnatural coming from that face. It was making him cringe.

He was in big trouble.

* * *

They were at breakfast on the fourth morning when Raph threw his hands up it the air and started yelling.

"Stop. Please. Just stop. You win. I concede. You fucking win."

Leo stared innocently at Raphael. "What's the fucking problem, Raph?"

Mikey and Donnie continued to eat, hiding their smiles behind forks and coffee mugs as they looked back and forth between their brothers.

"I cant. I cant take any more. I thought I would like it but I just cant take this with the – the face and the mouth – "

"My face and my mouth?" Leo tilted his head, looking confused.

"It's not right," Raph said. "Just stop."

"Well, shit Raph, if that's how you-"

"Stop!"

Leo chuckled. "Look, _you_ turned this on. And it's coming pretty naturally now. It probably won't be that easy to turn off. Plus, I had to up my game. You lasted _way longer_ than I thought you were going to and-"

"You didn't think I was going to last long!? How long did you think I was going to last?"

He watched Leo's shoulders shake from the laugh he was trying to contain.

"What!?"

"Do you have any idea what this conversation would sound like to someone listening in out of context?"

Raph paused and replayed what he'd just said in his head.

"Fuckin shithead," Raph muttered, turning to storm away from his smug brother.

"Oh, come on, Raph!" Leo called after him. "I'm sorry! I'm sure you normally last a long time!"

Mikey snorted so hard he spewed eggs across his plate.

Donnie's coffee mug hit the table with a loud thud.

Raphael stopped in his tracks and spun back around to glare at Leo.

"Shit," Leo whispered, before grinning and sprinting in the other direction, Raphael hot on his tail.

"Mike, promise to never bet against Leo," Donnie said, wiping up the coffee that had spilled on the table.

"I think eggs went up my nose, bro!"


	16. My Baby

" _You're my baby."_

Woody stood silently, absent-mindedly stirring the soup he was making for dinner, while his brain pondered that statement over and over again until he could feel a headache coming on.

He and Mikey were the only couple in the clan without children. They were a family of two. A duo.

Of course, they enjoyed the time they spent with their nieces and nephews. They worked hard to keep up their self-proclaimed titles as the _fun uncles_. And as much fun as the kids were, it was also fun to hand them back to their parents, allowing the two of them to return to their own apartment to enjoy each other's company.

And they both liked it that way. So why had Mikey's statement, which had been said days and days ago, stuck with him?

" _Don't pout like a baby, Woods," Mikey said cheerfully. His blue eyes flashed quickly over at his human and his grin only widened as he returned his attention to the screen._

" _I'm not a baby," Woody said, although he was clearly pouting as he watched Mikey demolish his high score._

" _You're my baby."_

Woody had personally seen _caretaker Michelangelo_ in action when it came to his recovery from Franklin. And Mikey had a real talent for sensing the emotional needs of those around him. He'd seen Mike step in more times than he could count with some humor to lighten a room. Or volunteer to occupy said nieces and nephews if their parents needed a break or some time to themselves.

Did Woody think Mikey would be a good dad? Yes, of course he did.

But Mikey had never brought up the topic of children. Never even hinted at it. Not that Mike hinted about much. If Mikey had something to say, he typically said it. So Woody had to wonder what it meant that Mikey had never said anything about adding kids to their mix.

He stared down at the soup and shook his head, realizing he was beginning to drive himself crazy. There was really only one way out of this self-imposed confusion. He was going to have to talk to his husband.

* * *

Leo frowned and tilted his head to the side. "That move doesn't even make sense."

"Sense or not, she still managed to kick him in the face," Mikey said.

"No one can jump that high."

"That's not the point."

"This is setting people up for unrealistic ideas about ninjitsu."

"Leo," Mikey groaned.

"Imagine if the kids saw this."

Mikey made a point of looking around Leo and Raph's living room, empty except for the two of them. "Most people worry about their kids watching horror movies. Or porn. You're worried about movies with crap ninja moves," he said with a chuckle.

Leo chuckled as well before he returned to outrage once again. "Oh come on!" he yelled at the screen as the main character grabbed a bo staff out of nowhere and escaped. "She barely had any take off and yet she can magically pole vault a hundred feet in the air?"

Mikey let his head hit the back of the couch cushion and groaned again. "You're killing the movie."

"Even Donnie couldn't pull that off."

Leo continued to frown, but after glancing over at his sullen little brother, he forced himself to lean back into the couch as well. He crossed his arms over his plastron and pressed his lips into a thin line, forcing himself to keep quiet as the main character appeared to stomp over some crispy fall leaves without making a sound.

He glanced over at Mikey again and wondered how much longer Mike was going to force him to watch the movie he'd brought over. Leo had easily agreed to sit and watch it with him, recognizing the classic Mikey move. Mikey had brought a movie he knew Leo wouldn't be too invested in watching, making it easy to ignore when Mikey finally started talking about what was bothering him. Leo was just waiting for Mike to open up.

Mikey stared at the screen for a few more moments as one line kept echoing in his head: _"You're my baby."_ He'd been the one to say it. But Woody was the one who'd withdrawn from him ever since. One hand began incessantly tapping his knee and he caught Leo looking at him again.

He opened his mouth and then chickened out at the last minute and his brain immediately switched to a new topic. "Where's Raph?"

Of course, he then truly forgot his own personal worries as he watched a dark expression shutter over Leo's face. A dark expression that was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

"He's downstairs in the parking lot. Casey has some issue with his motorcycle and he wanted Raph's opinion on how to fix it."

Mikey's eyes narrowed, not that Leo noticed as he was suddenly keeping his own blue eyes glued to the screen as if he was watching the most fascinating movie on the planet.

"You're still mad at Casey?"

Leo sighed, silently kicking himself for letting it show. "He apologized and I accepted his apology."

"Maybe you shouldn't have," Mikey said, his tone serious as he watched his big brother's face as Leo finally turned to look at him. "I mean, you don't _have_ to accept every apology thrown your way," he said with an added smile.

"You sound like Raph," Leo muttered.

"Why you gotta say mean things like that to me, bro?"

Leo chuckled and eyed Mikey again. "I thought we were here to talk about your problems."

"Uh uh," Mikey said, shaking his head. "My problem can wait."

Leo groaned when his distraction technique didn't work. "Are you going to tell me to stop being mad at Casey? Pull out the old _there's enough pizza for everyone_ peace talk? For the sake of family harmony or because of the all things -,"

"No," Mikey said, reaching over to squeeze Leo's shoulder to cut him off. "I'm sure you immediately said you forgave him for the sake of family harmony, which was probably not the best idea if you're actually still angry with him. Although, Leo -,"

At Mikey's pause, Leo looked back over at his little brother and took in his slightly unfocused eyes. Mikey's mind was clearly working through something.

"-are you sure it's Casey you're mad at? And not someone else?" Mikey watched Leo's eyes immediately dart back to the screen. "I don't like seeing you like this, Leo."

"It is inappropriate behavior for a leader," Leo softly responded.

"No," Mikey said, sternly, squeezing Leo's shoulder even harder than before. "I don't like it because you're my brother and you're upset." He shook Leo's shoulder until Leo looked back at him again. "Look, I'm sure you've talked this over with Raph-,"

"Raph has been taking very good care of me," Leo said with a smile.

"Hey," Mikey said, throwing a hand up to prevent any more words from exiting Leo's mouth, "Donnie's not here, no need to go into detail, bro." He watched as Leo actually chuckled and paused for a moment to listen to the sound before continuing. "You never told me and Don what happened with Usagi."

Mikey watched as Leo's face visibly closed and he tried not to regret asking the question. But he knew that something had happened between Leo and Usagi long before this abduction. After all, Mikey had been the one trapped with Leo in turtle world where he had had a first row seat for how uncomfortable Leo had become around the rabbit.

So he sat still and quiet and did his best to practice patience, not his best skill, as he waited for Leo to start talking. He hadn't come over here to dive into Leo's problems, but he wasn't about to ignore a chance to help his big brother.

Finally, Leo rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. "Mainly just-," Leo paused mid-sentence before he forced himself to go on, "-fear. Just fear, Mike. I was trapped with someone I didn't trust. And even after Akito and Machi's uncles helped me escape from Usagi, I still didn't know how I was going to be found this time. I didn't have a way home. It's a terrible feeling, not knowing if you're ever going to go home again. And unfortunately, I've experienced it more than once." Leo met Mikey's eyes then and was immediately grateful for the understanding he could see in his little brother's expression.

Mikey sat back into the couch cushions again as he thought about what Leo said. "You've experienced it thanks to an alternate dimension Donnie, someone who, as our brother, should've never harmed you. And then again with Usagi, someone who you once considered a good friend," he said, slowly. "And Casey, who we think of as family, was involved. It's no wonder you're still uneasy around Casey. In fact, I'm kind of proud of you for trusting anyone at this point, Leo."

Leo's eyes widened slightly as he listened to Mikey's simple but completely correct assessment of the situation. He felt the guilt that he'd been carrying for being angry at Casey loosen from his chest. And more importantly, he felt some of the anger he'd been directing at Casey loosen from his chest as well.

"Michelangelo, that's – I didn't see that before."

Mikey grinned. "Sometimes you need an awesome outsider to point out the obvious."

"I do think you're awesome, but I don't think it was obvious," Leo said with a smile and a shake of his head. "I think it's your unique way of seeing things. Thank you, Mike."

"You mean my goofball brain's way of seeing things," Mikey said.

Now it was Leo's turn to narrow his eyes in confusion as he listened to Mike's self-deprecating tone of voice and watched as Mikey shifted awkwardly in his seat. Mikey typically accepted praise happily. And loudly. But right now, Mike looked uncomfortable.

"When was the last time someone called you a goofball?" Leo asked, keeping a grin on his face to keep the question light.

Mikey paused his fidgeting for a moment and eventually shrugged. "It doesn't mean everyone's not thinking it about the baby brother."

Leo tipped his head. "You're allowed to grow up too you know," he said. When Mikey became strangely still, he took the cue that he was on the right track and continued. "Besides, your _goofballness_ is really just the cheer and happiness you share with the rest of us. It's something we all love, but as you demonstrated just two minutes ago by helping me with my own problem, it's definitely not the only part of you. You know that, right?"

Mikey sat still for a few more moments, as it was now his turn to soak up Leo's easy explanation for something that had been bothering him. He grinned over at Leo before quickly jumping up to retrieve his movie. "I gotta get home and talk to Woody," Mikey said. He pulled the disc out and waved it in Leo's direction. "Unless you want to finish this one?" he teased.

"Uh, no thanks," Leo said, unable to hide his relief that the distasteful movie was leaving his home.

And now that he was being released from the movie, Leo did have an idea for what he should do next. So he walked with Mike out of his own apartment and the few steps to Mike and Woody's apartment door before saying goodbye as Mikey slipped into his own home. He knocked on Casey and April's door to check in on Machi, who was spending time with Shadow, and to let April know where he was headed. He couldn't help but catch the grateful smile April sent his way as he left.

Then he took the elevator down to the parking lot where he found Raph and Casey sitting on stools on either side of Casey's motorcycle, both elbow deep in grease and tools as they focused on reattaching a troublesome carburetor. Leo watched as Raphael's green eyes warmed when he was spotted, while Casey's eyes only flickered quickly from Leo's face back down to the bike. He stopped when he was next to Raphael and got a squeeze to one of his calf muscles, although he scowled down at the line of grease Raph left behind.

"What ya been up to?" Raph asked, smiling at Leo's scowl. He pulled a rag out of his toolbox and did his best to clean off Leo's leg. The rag managed to smear the oil further and Raph could only chuckle as he silently vowed to get Leo in the shower later to clean the muscled leg properly himself.

"Watching a movie with Mike," Leo said. "You guys ready to take a break? I feel like some basketball."

"Sure," Raph said, standing up and trying to clean off his hands. No need to give Leo any extra advantages in basketball by having slippery fingers. "I could use a break."

Leo turned to Casey next. "You coming, Casey?"

Casey's mouth dropped open, although he tried to recover quickly, as he stared up at the blue-clad turtle. "Basketball?" he asked. Leo hadn't invited him to do anything fun in a long, long time.

"Yeah," Leo said with a smirk, "I'll even make it fair, you two against me."

"Oh, you're on, Leo," Casey said, standing from his stool with his own smirk. He quickly wiped his own hands clean and led the way down the tunnel towards the family's basketball court.

Leo moved to follow, although he was stopped by a strong hand on his plastron, allowing the handsome emerald turtle he called his mate to lean in and kiss him quickly before the two of them moved to catch up to Casey.

* * *

Woody was so distracted that he didn't realize Mikey had entered the kitchen until a green arm looped around his middle to offer a hug from behind. He instantly relaxed and leaned back against Mikey's plastron.

"Leo made it further through that movie than I was expecting."

Mikey chuckled and made a mental note to tell Woody all of Leo's complaints later. " _What Would Leo Say_ " was a game the two of them had created years and years ago and Woody had definitely won this round of predictions, right down to Leo's remark about " _unrealistic ideas about ninjitsu"_. They had other versions of the game, although the ninja- and space-themed movies always went to Leo. Another favorite was " _What Would Donnie or Sadie Say"_ related to all science- and technology-themed movies. They tried to keep up with " _What Would Raph Say_ ", designating him to the action genre of movies, but they found that Raphael tended to just watch movies without complaining, yelling, or throwing things at the screen. It made it easier to watch movies with him, but just wasn't as much fun for their private game.

Mikey reached his other arm around Woody and turned off the stovetop before turning Woody so that they were facing each other.

"Woods, listen," Mikey said, deciding to just jump right into it. "I was pretty sure my brothers, and everyone else in this clan, would always see me as the baby of the family. Even after they all started having their own kids. So, I didn't think anyone would've taken me seriously if I said I thought about being a dad."

"Even me?" Woody asked, quickly focusing on what Mikey was telling him, despite his shock as he realized that Mikey's thoughts were lined right up with where his own mind had been the past few days.

Woody's question stopped Mikey in his tracks and he quickly offered his husband an apologetic look. "Yeah, dude, I guess I grouped you into that."

Woody looped his fingers in with one of Mikey's hands and locked his eyes with Mikey's large blue ones. "I wouldn't have thought it was silly, Michelangelo. You're the most warm-hearted and thoughtful person I know. You being a dad makes complete sense to me."

Mikey stared back at Woody. He could feel his eyes tear up and was pretty powerless at that point to stop it. First Leo and now Woody. He'd have to check the calendar and make sure it wasn't _Compliment Michelangelo Day_.

"You mean that?"

"Of course I do," Woody said before wrapping his free hand around Mikey's neck to pull him in close enough to kiss him.

Mikey melted against Woody and the hand not gripped within Woody's instinctually tangled itself in the curly hair on the back of Woody's head. He lost himself in the kiss for a few moments, which also gave him the chance to reign in his watery eyes, before he pulled back to ask another question.

"Now you know why I never brought up the possibility of kids. Why haven't you?"

"You almost always say what you're thinking, Mike. Like this, right now. So I thought if you wanted to talk about kids, you'd bring it up."

"What about you, though, Woods? Why wait on me to say something?"

Woody tried to shrug, but it was a sad, half-hearted attempt. "I've been a lot of trouble, Mikey," Woody said, no longer meeting Mikey's eyes.

Mikey nipped at Woody's jawline with a small growl. "You have not."

Woody shivered at the attention, but continued. "I couldn't add to your burden. I was willing to wait for you to bring it up."

"You're mine to take care of, Woods. Not a burden," Mikey said, smiling only when Woody's brown eyes met his. "And what if I never brought it up?"

"That'd be okay, too," Woody said, honestly. "I love you, Mikester. And I love taking care of you as well. Whether we decide to keep talking about kids or not, I'll always be happy as long as I have you."

* * *

 **A/N** : Fun fact for those who have wondered where Woody came from in the TMNT world: Woody is from IDW's comic series and first appeared in issue 7. His full name is Woody Dirkins, and he was named after IDW's head of marketing Dirk Wood. He was also drawn to resemble him.

I've had some fun conversations in the past thinking about why Woody and Mikey have never pursued kids and if they ever would (Thanks for those, Stitcherbell!) And I personally have enjoyed the fact that those two have just had each other to take care of, although, I also think they'd be great dads. So it's a toss up for me on whether they'd get around to adopting. So in honor of those conflicting thoughts, I'm ending this chapter like this! And look, Natalie Ryan, I even managed to squeeze in a little Mikey and Leo brotherly bonding!


	17. Growing Pains

"You know you have to actually make contact to earn points, right? You don't get points handed to you just for being a special snowflake from another dimension."

Machi's face gave no reaction as she finished bowing to her opponent. She knew he was going to have to try harder than that if he was trying to agitate her before their spar. Thanks to Akito, as well as a few bunnies who thought of themselves as additional older brothers, she was well-versed in the art of competitive teasing.

"I'm touched that you think I'm a special snowflake," she said in her sweetest voice. She smiled back at him with her most innocent expression.

His own eyes narrowed slightly as he studied her face and tried to judge if she was teasing him. "I just don't want to hear any crying when we're finished."

Machi straightened fully and switched to a smirk as she spun her sais expertly in both palms. "Back at ya."

"What the hell is he sayin to her?" Raphael muttered in Leo's direction.

Leo shook his head. "They're both barely moving their lips."

"He's not supposed to talk to her beforehand," Akito added in a near growl.

The two stood on either side of him and Leo's eyes shifted one way and then the other to take in their matching glares.

"Machi seems fine," Leo said, doing his best to soothe them both. The spar hadn't even begun yet and they were both riled. Although Machi and her opponent were clearly talking to each other, Leo remained calm since he could tell by his daughter's expression that she was letting whatever the other said roll off her shoulders. He'd had a few discussions with her prior to this competition, as she had been moved up to the next-more-competitive-age group, because he had been slightly worried about the aggressiveness of the others she would face.

"Yeah," Raphael said. He took in Leo's easy stance and let his mate's words sink in as he pushed his shoulders back as he crossed his arms over his plastron. "She can handle the little punk."

"He's probably just trying to intimidate her with smack talk," Leo said.

Raphael snorted. "Did you just say smack talk?"

Leo turned Akito. "What's the current lingo? What am I supposed to call it now?"

Raphael snorted again at the word _lingo_ while Akito's shoulders shook from the laugh he was trying to contain so as to not disrespect his father.

"I think smack talk is fine, dad," Akito managed, although his voice was a higher pitch than normal. "Perfectly acceptable." His eyes drifted to his pop's eyes, which was a mistake because they both released loud chuckles as soon as they made eye contact.

"So glad I could get you two to lighten up," Leo said, dryly. He lifted his eyes from where they stood on the sidelines up to the stands where the rest of their family all sat together, relaxed and happily chatting with each other. Shadow's red hair stood out among the crowd and he knew Machi was excited that Shadow was able to come watch her compete this time. Red fur of their newest fox family members stood out as well and Leo exchanged a quick nod of greeting with Machi and Akito's fox uncles, who had traveled to this dimension to watch the events they were involved in over the next few days as well.

They weren't back in this dimension for a mission, nor were they currently in any danger. They were here for Akito and Machi, as well as the bunnies. Still, for the first time ever, Leo had to be talked into this dimension jump. Leo knew Akito and Machi had desperately wanted to make the trip, which is probably why Raphael, of all clan members, had eventually talked him into it.

He took in a deep breath where he stood and felt Raphael's hand land on his shoulder in a comforting, protective squeeze before his eyes quickly shifted back to Machi as her spar began. She practically danced around her opponent, which Leo always found amusing when he watched her in their own dojo, but especially in this setting since her weapon required close contact in order to earn points. But she did earn points, and she earned them fast.

Her opponent, a fox as well, did finally manage to get one of his nunchucks twisted around one of Machi's sais. He looked slightly triumphant until he caught Machi's smirk and then narrowed his eyes in confusion. She responded by twisting her wrist before yanking her hand down, not only freeing her weapon but also tossing his to the floor.

Leo kept his face neutral and let Raphael, who got to be just her father and not a combination of father and sensei, cheer next to him as Machi quickly defeated the fox she had been paired against.

Machi bowed again at the end of the spar, but looked up at her opponent when she heard him clear his throat to get her attention.

"What's your name?" he asked, still mid-bow himself.

Half her mouth moved up in a smirk. "They announced it before we began," she said in a low voice before straightening herself fully. She turned on her heel and moved quickly back to where her fathers and brother stood.

* * *

"He's just a friend," Machi said, doing her best not to smile.

"I don't care who he is. Yer not goin to a dance with a boy."

"I'm going with a group," Machi said. "And not just any group, but _my_ _team_ , which includes my older brother."

"You're only fourteen years old."

"I patrol our city all the time!"

"That's different. Yer not datin,"

"It's a group. Not a date."

"So why'd you say ya were goin with Midori?"

"I didn't say I was going with Midori," she said, waving her hand towards the rabbit who stood next to her. "He's just the one who bought me a ticket so I can go with them."

Midori did his best not to fidget where he stood. He had stopped by the hotel where the Hamatos were staying just to drop off Machi's ticket. Now, however, he was quickly trying to determine how to get away from the angry Raphael without being noticed.

"So he asked ya on a date?" Raph turned his glare towards Midori who quickly took a step backwards.

"Can I just point out that you've known Midori longer than you've known me?"

"That ain't true," Raph said, crossing his arms over his plastron as he turned his attention back to Machi. "We couldn't tell any of them apart for years."

Machi crossed her own arms and raised her eyebrow back at him as Leo tried to hide a grin from where he sat watching in silence.

"Total group event," Midori added, raising his hands in the air. "We just wanted the whole team together to celebrate."

Raphael glared over at Midori again who wisely took another step back which landed him out of Raph and Leo's temporary bedroom and into the hotel suite's main room.

"He's much older than you."

"I'm not going with _just_ him."

"Boys that age only want one thing, Mach."

Machi turned on her best innocent expression. "And what's that, papa?"

Raphael narrowed his eyes at her falsely innocent face and then turned abruptly when he heard Leo snort from his seat behind him. "Yer not helpin."

"I'm not trying to help," Leo teased, settling his shell further back in the bedroom's armchair. Watching _protective papa Raph_ had quickly become one of his favorite hobbies since Machi had become a teenager. Leo was protective as well, but Raphael did such a good job at it that it allowed Leo the chance to sit back and admire Raphael in the lead position.

Leo caught Machi's eyes and tilted his head towards the bedroom's exit. She quickly took the hint and pulled the door shut behind her as she escaped into the main room while Raph's back was turned.

Raphael continued to glare at Leo as he heard Machi leave. "How long have you known she was going to the dance?"

Leo smiled as he stood and moved in close to Raphael. "We're going as well," he murmured. "I volunteered us as chaperones. So don't ruin this for me."

Raph watched Leo's eyes roam provocatively over him and almost missed what Leo had just said.

"Huh? Ruin what?"

"I want to go to the dance," Leo said, his tone still low. He let his fingers trail down one of Raphael's arms. "There's going to be this really hot turtle there and I'm hoping to dance with him."

Raph narrowed his eyes at Leo. "I ain't-,"

"And then after the dance," Leo continued in a voice Raphael thought was much huskier than it had been a moment before, "I'm gonna nail him on that bed over there."

Raphael swallowed hard as he watched Leo's slightly unfocused eyes move to eye the bed.

"Well -," Leo said before pausing deliberately to refocus on Raphael's face, "- maybe over the _side_ of that bed."

A churr rolled up Raphael's throat so quickly he could only be grateful that no one else was in the room with them.

Leo's face lit up in a broad smile before he suddenly asked Raph if he was ready for dinner.

"Huh?" Raph blinked, trying to understand Leo's question about eating, as if he _hadn't_ just been torturing Raphael with dirty images of what he was going to do to him later that night.

Leo's grin grew wider. "The kids all want to eat an early dinner so we're not late to the dance. You ready to go?"

Raphael stared at him harder. "Yer teasin me," he said in his own low rumble.

Leo stepped in even closer to him and Raph immediately heard the husky tone of voice again when Leo opened his mouth.

"No I'm not. A tease is someone who says they're going to do something and then doesn't follow through. And trust me," he said, letting his eyes wander over Raphael again. "I am going to follow through."

"Fuck," Raph whispered, suddenly exasperated that he had to leave the very room he desperately wanted to remain in.

Leo's eyes lit up. "Yes. Exactly."

Raphael growled and pushed on Leo's shoulder, directly him out to the main room where the others were waiting.

* * *

Machi admired the room from where she stood at the dance. Her very first dance ever. A high school dance. And while the decorations were mainly streamers, balloons and strings of small white lights, she didn't think they could have been any prettier.

She smiled as she watched Akito dance with Violet out on the dance floor while their fathers stood off on the opposite side of the room. The fact that they had come along as chaperones hadn't surprised either her or Akito. Although she did notice that they spent more time staring at each other than watching over the teenagers in the room.

"Get over here, Machi!" Violet's sister called out from her group of friends.

Machi laughed and shook her head at them before she moved across the room towards the punch bowl. She was surprised when a red fox suddenly stepped in her path.

"Dance with me, Machi."

Machi stopped in her tracks, actually shocked to see the fox from her earlier competition spar standing in front of her.

"I learned your name," he said with a smile and shrug.

"Well I am a special snowflake. It's the least you could do," she deadpanned.

He huffed out a small laugh but then tilted his head at her. "I'm sorry I called you that. Come dance with me." He watched as she only frowned at him. "Didja come with a date?"

Machi glanced over to where Akito and their friends were grouped. Akito's eyes were now zeroed in on her and the fox in front of her. She looked away from him quickly, and didn't dare look over to where their fathers stood, lest they all thought she was silently requesting help.

"I came with friends. And family," she moved to step around him but he quickly side-stepped and blocked her.

"Look, I know you probably think I'm a jerk-,"

"No," Machi said with a head shake.

"No?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, not quite trusting the look on her face.

"No," Machi repeated, "I don't think about you at all." She watched as his eyes sparked at her and suddenly felt warmer than she'd been a moment before.

Half his mouth quirked up in a grin as he recognized her tease. "We should fix that," he murmured. "Please dance with me."

A slow song began playing and Machi offered up a half shrug. It was enough for the other fox who quickly took her hand and led her out on the dance floor.

"So you go to school here?" she asked, doing her best to ignore the feeling of his hands on her waist.

He nodded back at her.

"Do you know Violet and her siblings?" she asked, nodding her head towards where the bunnies were.

"Yes. They're a grade above me, though. But I know that Violet has always talked about her fox boyfriend from another dimension." He grinned down at the pretty little fox. "To be honest, I'm pretty sure a few people at our school were convinced your brother didn't really exist."

He paused and she caught him grinning over at her brother and Violet before looking back to her.

"You know, historically, rabbits and foxes are not supposed to be friends," he said with a grin.

"Well, Akito and I weren't raised by foxes. So I guess we didn't get the memo."

"Right," he said, tilting his head at her with a thoughtful expression. He glanced across the room where he saw the two turtles who had been on the sidelines of their earlier spar. "Were your raised by those two?"

Machi looked as well and found that her fathers had moved away from the wall and were now slow dancing with each other. She released a sigh of embarrassment. She may be completely used to the expressions her dads consistently shared with each other, but she found herself forcing the other fox to move so that he could no longer see the dancing turtles.

He laughed as he recognized what she was doing. "So that's a yes then?"

She nodded.

"Alright, new topic. How long have you been training?"

She scrunched up her face a little as she thought about it. "About ten years I think? I don't really have any memories from before I began training to be honest. And with the exception of one aunt and one uncle who both married into the family, its just something my entire family does." She thought about that for a moment. Because if she and Akito had been raised by _any_ members of their biological family, they still would've been trained to fight, although perhaps for very different purposes.

"And did I hear right that you and the others actually go on patrols in the city you live in? You take out criminals?"

Her attention snapped back to the other fox. "Well we don't take them out-,"

"But you go up against real criminals?"

She took in his wide eyes and could feel actual worry coming off of him. She sensed this wasn't the time to tell him about her special abilities, which were really the _only_ reason her dad let her go on patrols at her age. But she had to admit, the sincerity of his concern was touching. She liked it.

"What's your name?" she asked.

Her conversation switch had him forgetting the visual he had of her in danger and he quickly mock scowled at her. "They announced it before our spar," he teased.

"Well I didn't care before the spar."

"And you care now?"

She rolled her eyes at him and he laughed outright as the song ended.

"It's Hiro."

"Well, our dance is over, Hiro," she said, dropping her hands from his shoulders.

"Wait, how long are you here?"

"We go home tomorrow night after the ceremony."

"Are you coming back any time soon?" He watched her shake her head before he glanced over at her brother. The taller fox was still keeping his eyes on the two of them, a fact that hadn't gone unnoticed during his dance with Machi.

"Well, Violet and your brother had to have had a way to keep in touch right?"

Machi tilted her head at him and grinned. She made him wait a moment before she nodded at him.

He sighed at her. "Well?"

"One of my uncles built a phone that could contact phones in this dimension."

"So, if I give you my phone number, you could call me?"

"Well I _could_."

Hiro frowned at her but grabbed her hand anyway and led her to the table with the punch bowls. He swiped a pen and jotted his number down on a napkin, which he then handed to her.

He waited till she took it before grinning at her again. "Talk to ya later, Snowflake."

* * *

Leo sat in his seat and looked through the program while Raphael fidgeted in the seat next to him. The seats were small, their entire family easily took up two full rows, and Leo knew Raph was feeling a little claustrophobic. He was as well, but he was doing his best to ignore it. At least at Machi's competition they were allowed to just stand on the sidelines. But here they were pure spectators. Proud spectators. He flinched as Mikey tested out his air horn. Proud, _loud_ spectators.

He found what he was looking for in the program as someone droned out a speech at the stage's podium. He leaned over to Raphael to show him, before leaning the other way to show their father.

 _Hamato Akito_

Right there in the middle of the graduation ceremony program was their son's name. It was strange how two little words could spark such pride and pain at the same time.

Raphael leaned over a few moments later and nudged Leo when he caught him just staring at the program. Although they were still grappling with the fact that Akito had been accepted into a college here in this dimension, and would be moving here in three very short months, today was supposed to be celebratory. He watched as Leo looked up at him and offered a shaky smile.

Akito and Machi's tutor, who worked for this school system, had offered Akito the chance to actually walk across the stage with the current graduating class, which included Violet and her siblings. This was an opportunity for which Akito was extremely grateful. He was also grateful that his pops had managed to convince his dad to return to this world in order for him to have this opportunity. He was hoping that this had been a good trip for his dad, which would hopefully make it easier for his family to come visit him while he was at college. He leaned forward and smiled as he admired Violet in her graduation cap. They were headed off to college together in the fall. They'd be in separate dorms of course but anything would be better than separate dimensions.

Akito adjusted his own graduation cap from his seat among the other students and glanced up to where his family sat in the stadium. He thought about how he was going to miss them. Each and every one of them.

But then he met his dad's eyes and felt an actual twinge of homesickness, even though he was actually going home with them that very night. He had a sudden image of his dad staring into his empty room once he was gone and was hit with an incredible urge to race up the stands and reassure his dad that he'd always know where his home was. That he'd always know where he belonged. And that he'd be back. Four years of college and he'd be back.

But he couldn't rush the stands and say all of that right now. So instead he offered his dad a smile, which Leo returned with an understanding nod, and then he stood with his row to head towards the stage.

He smiled again as his name was announced. And his smile only grew as he heard his family's loud cheers. Well, cheers and the air horn his uncle had snuck in.


	18. Father's Day

"Machi, seriously, give me your foot."

Machi giggled and shook her head.

"I'm not kidding. We don't have time for you to be playing. Just give me your foot." He didn't want to wrestle with her, but he would if he had to. He had gotten up early. Very very early to do this and he knew he was running out of time.

"Look," he said to her. "I know you're too little to understand this, but this is our new home and these are our new parents and we are very lucky and you are going to give me your foot!"

Machi continued to give him a slightly amused look, but finally lifted her foot towards him. Akito was her only constant, although she was growing fond of the two turtles she now seemed to live with as well, and she didn't want to see Akito actually upset.

"Hold still," Akito said. He held her little foot tightly in one hand and began painting over the underside with the finger paint his new Uncle Mikey had snuck to him when he'd asked for some secret art supplies.

His ears flew up and he stilled his movements when he thought he heard something outside his bedroom. When there was no further noise, he went back to his task and twisted Machi's foot until he could press it down on the paper he'd set up on his floor.

Machi stared down in interest at her paw print on the paper as Akito applied more paint and pressed her foot down on a second piece of paper. She watched Akito nod happily at his creation before he quickly slid the papers under his bed.

"We're not touching them again until they're dry," he whispered to her as he pulled out a baby wipe. He had to quickly shush her as she practically fell over giggling as he tried to scrub her foot clean.

"Machi, you're going to wake them up," he whispered loudly while struggling to get her paw still enough to clean. But Machi only giggled louder the more he struggled with her. His ears flew up again when he heard his doorknob turning and quickly swept the paint and baby wipe under his bed with his tail, being careful not to disrupt his current project. He was just going to have to hope that Machi's paw was clean enough.

Leo looked into Akito's room, surprised to find Machi not only up this early, but also sitting on the floor with Akito in his room.

"You guys okay?" he asked slowly.

"Yes," Akito said, hopping up onto his feet. He was careful not to draw attention to anything under his bed by doing something as foolish as trying to guard the supplies with his feet. Instead he moved to use a skill Master Leonardo had recently been teaching them in class. He moved towards his bookshelf and pulled down a book. "Will you read us a story?"

Leo kept the prideful smirk off his face as he recognized Akito's distraction technique. He tilted his head out towards the couch where they'd be more comfortable, smiled as the two little ones piled in next to him, and began reading.

* * *

"Uh uh. Not this morning."

Leo smiled as he felt those emerald fingers tighten around him, forbidding him from leaving their bed for his normal morning meditation. "You need some attention from me this morning?" he murmured.

There was a chuckle in response as Raph pushed at Leo's leg before Leo could press it any further between Raph's thighs.

"Later," Raph said. "Kids are up to somethin."

Leo stilled and lifted his face from Raph's neck. He heard distinct noises that told him the kids were in the kitchen. He went to push himself up but Raphael kept him in place again.

"They're in the kitchen," Leo said.

"Yeah."

"That can't be safe."

"It's only not safe when _you're_ in the kitchen," Raph said with a smirk.

Leo frowned at him. "What if they're touching the stove?"

"They're not," Raph assured him. He, unlike Leo, knew their stove well enough to recognize the distinct beep it made when turned on and so far he hadn't heard it. "Ya do know what today is, right?"

Leo met Raph's eyes with a confused frown before his eyes widened in realization.

"You think they're -,"

Raph nodded and smiled when Leo's face lit up in a smile.

"They're coming," Leo whispered. He felt Raph release his hold, allowing him to push himself off Raph's body in order to appear as if he actually used his side of the bed. He listened to Raphael begin to chuckle and silenced him with a swift nudge to his mate's calf.

Akito paused outside the door and glanced down at Machi. She looked up at him expectantly and then looked towards the door. Akito looked towards the door as well and suddenly wondered if this was a good idea. A year ago, with the help of their mother, he and Machi had done this for their first dad. Of course, he had had zero plans of doing anything like this for their uncle this year. And with that thought, he remembered how happy he was that they were both here instead of back with their mean uncle.

"Okay?" Machi whispered up to him.

"Yeah," he whispered back with a quick nod. "Yeah, we're okay."

"Yup," Machi said and jumped up and down.

Akito smiled again, and slowly pushed the bedroom door open with a new confidence.

"Surprise!" Machi said, shouting the word Akito had been rehearsing with her all morning as she skipped into the room and jumped up on the bed.

Akito moved more slowly as he balanced the tray of food he was carrying. He didn't know how to brew Master Leonardo's tea, and Raphael didn't drink it anyway, so he'd settled on glasses of water for both of them, along with slices of jellied toast. He watched as the two turtles sat up from sleep, rubbed at their eyes, and then smiled first at Machi, who had already climbed into Raphael's lap, before smiling at him as well. He stopped in his tracks at their smiles and swallowed as he remembered how his father had smiled that same kind of smile at him last year.

"Happy father's day," Akito said, quickly recovering himself. He moved forward and gently set the tray of food on the bed before climbing up to sit on the edge.

"This is great!" Leo said enthusiastically as he pulled the tray towards him. "You made us breakfast!"

"And this!" Machi said, waving around the papers Akito had had her carry in.

"Let's see this, kid," Raphael said, taking both papers from her. He quickly glanced at them both and handed one over to Leo when he saw that they were identical. His smile grew as he saw both kids' painted paw prints on the sheet with the words _You're toe-tally awesome_ written underneath. He leaned down and nuzzled his face against the top of Machi's head and was slightly surprised when she turned towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck for a hug.

Leo stared down at his own present and was soon pulling Akito into his side for his own hug. "This is – this is awesome, buddy," he murmured. He'd seen Akito's apprehension when the kids had first entered the room and was relieved now to feel Akito relax against him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Akito said with a sincere smile before moving to give Raphael a hug as well when he saw the other turtle beckon him over.

Machi jumped up to quickly hug Leonardo as well before turning to press her foot over her own painted foot on Leo's paper. "Akito made for Daddy and Papa," she proudly said.

Akito was handing Raphael a plate but froze when he heard what Machi had said. He glanced at the two turtles and watched as they glanced at each other.

"Is that okay?" he slowly asked. "I mean, its okay if its not okay. But I told her maybe we could start calling you Daddy and Papa."

'I think we'd like that very much," Leo said.

Raphael didn't say anything, but he did set his plate down and scoop Machi up to throw her in the air a few times, filling the room with loud giggles.

"In fact, I think we'd love it," Leo said with a wide grin.

"Okay," Akito said, doing his best not to look too relieved as he handed a plate over to his new dad.

Raphael tucked Machi down into his side and picked up his toast to take a bite. He watched as Akito laughed at something Leo said and then slid his hand under the sheet to squeeze Leo's fingers.

Leo nodded and squeezed back.

They both sat back and enjoyed this moment. They'd been given these children to take care of and they were happy to bask in any moment when it seemed like they were doing the job right.

* * *

 **A/N** : I'm a little early for Father's Day, but I'm also too impatient to wait to post this!

I know its been a little bit since I posted a new chapter here. It's because I wrote a new short story, Muted Victory, which I hope you'll check out if you haven't already.


	19. Heartbeat

She'd been feeling tired. And crummy. Sam accepted her explanation that maybe she had the flu. For one week. At week two, he called the doctor himself and made her an appointment.

The pregnancy test had been positive. Pregnant. She was pregnant. They hadn't been trying to get pregnant, but they hadn't been doing anything to prevent a pregnancy either. And when she didn't get pregnant after so many months, she had just assumed she couldn't. It was easy to imagine that she had enough internal scar tissue to make a pregnancy impossible. And it was probably for the best, considering she didn't know anything about being a mother.

And then that doctor walked in and told her she was pregnant. Her level of shock had been at the level of _Shredder is not your actual father_ level of shock. She didn't say anything for the rest of the day. Sam treaded lightly around her, but his big smile spoke for him.

She was still tired, but so far it had been the only sign that she was pregnant. The doctor had sent her home that day with some reading material but no ultrasound. Apparently it was too soon. There'd be nothing to see. She didn't want nausea, but would've gladly taken it if only to have some sort of sign that she was _still_ pregnant.

She tried to relay her fears by watching Sam and his dopey grin. She liked the smile on him. She held a small amount of pride in knowing that she could please him in this way. That she could do something so _female_.

But she couldn't share her nightmares about the pregnancy not thriving or completely disappearing with Sam. She didn't want to kill his happiness with her worries.

So she worried in silence.

She tried to rationalize with herself that she should be fine keeping her anxiety to herself. She'd had no one to talk to for the first half of her life and she'd survived just fine. But now she was spoiled. She had a husband. And a father. A real father. A couple of sisters, one of whom had experienced a pregnancy and could possibly be helpful. Plus four turtle brothers. One of whom she worked with every day who kept shooting her strange looks as they worked through a training session with their new Hamato recruits.

She glared back at his strange looks. But the stubborn turtle was immune to her glares.

She left the training session as soon as it was over. Before he could approach her and ask why she was so distracted. It was damn irritating, but she couldn't lie to Leonardo. He could always tell when she lied.

So she was avoiding him.

Finally, at six weeks, she had another doctor's appointment for that first ultrasound. They called her back to the small, dark room and she quickly settled herself on the crinkly paper. The sonographer began by warning her that since she was still so early, they might not get the best picture and Miwa did her best not to roll her eyes. Instead, she reached her hand out for smiley Sam. Sam's larger hand encased hers while his other hand absent-mindedly tucked some of her hair behind one of her ears.

"I guess we can't tell if the baby is a redhead yet, huh?" Sam asked.

Sam's smile was so wide Miwa could see all of his teeth. She offered him a weak smile in silent thanks for trying to ease some of the tension she knew was clear on her face. The sonographer laughed and shook her head as she adjusted the controls and kept her eyes pinned on the screen.

"There," the sonographer said after a few more moments of uneasy silence.

Miwa's eyes narrowed in on the screen as she heard Sam stop breathing next to her. His fingers tightened around her hand and she wondered if he knew which part of the fuzzy black and white mess in front of them was their baby.

"Right there," the sonographer said, thankfully outlining an oval shape with her finger on the screen.

"Should we see the heart beating?" Sam asked.

Miwa's eyes flickered quickly to her husband, not because he'd clearly done some research before this appointment, which didn't surprise her, but because there was a hint of nerves in his voice. Sam, who had met her _mutant rat father_ with ease. Who routinely trash talked _Leonardo_ during basketball games. Who once thought it would be fun to challenge _Raphael_ to an arm wrestling match.

Sam wasn't easily rattled.

But right now Sam wasn't meeting her eyes as his own eyes stayed pinned on the tiny screen. Miwa's eyes returned to the screen and she stared hard, trying her best to remember which fuzzy blob on the screen was the baby.

She felt herself go cold at the thought of that missing heartbeat. Maybe all her fears and anxiety had been her body's way of telling her that she _wasn't_ pregnant.

And in that moment, she had never wanted anything more in her entire life than to see a heartbeat. She immediately began making internal deals. Her day to day life flashed through her mind. She hadn't taken any hits in practice that morning, but she could've. She didn't remember the last time she'd been injured on patrol, but it could happen at any point. She immediately vowed to stop. She'd be willing to give up anything to see a heartbeat. She'd keep herself safe. She'd eat healthy. She'd -

"Here," the sonographer said, adjusting the picture. "Here's a better angle. There's the heartbeat right there."

And there it was. A fast flutter. A steady _beat beat beat_. And now it was very clear that _of course_ that little peapod was their baby. How could she not have seen the little one before?

Warmth flooded her. There were tears in her eyes. Her arms began to shake. This was real. That little person was coming.

"Here's a photo to take home," the sonographer said, tearing the picture off the machine as it was printed and handing it over to Sam.

She watched as Sam's fingers shook as he took the photo and she squeezed his other fingers tight again. He'd already done some research into what to expect with the pregnancy. He was staring at the ultrasound photo as if he could see their future child's little face on it. She fell in love with him all over again.

They'd barely made it out of the building before he was already talking about sharing the photo with the rest of the clan. But she shook her head. Suddenly the pregnancy felt like brand new information all over again. Part of her did want to share the good news with everyone else. But another part of her wanted to keep this secret for a little while longer. Somehow it felt like keeping the baby safe.

Sam pulled her in close there on sidewalk and kissed her with his hands cupping her face. He had seen her joy at the heartbeat. It had been her first real acknowledgment in his eyes that this was actually happening. And he was willing to let her take all the time she needed to settle into this new phase.

"Love you," he whispered to her before taking her hand to hurry her home.

* * *

The nauseousness had set in suddenly that morning. And she was cursing herself for ever wishing for it. She stood in front of the board where they'd tried to pinpoint all the locations the lone vigilante had been spotted and tried to listen to Leo's plan to track him down.

"I'm not taking that new group out on this until they've had some experience," Leo was saying. "I'll take a couple of the elite, although I'd really like to see if Raph -," Leo stopped and eyed Miwa. "Are you okay? You've been kind of distracted and now you look a little – green."

Miwa shut her eyes and tried to take a deep breathe in through just her nose.

"Maybe you should go home and rest if you're still sick."

Miwa slowly nodded. Going home to curl into a ball and not move for the next seven or so months sounded tempting. Either that or head into the break room to eat the entire contents of the fridge since keeping her stomach full at all times seemed to be the only thing that kept the nausea at bay. She definitely needed to do either one or the other.

She opened her eyes and found Leo's head tilted in her direction. He looked like he was concentrating on something. And with his wide blue eyes zeroed in on her abdomen, she had a good guess what he was thinking. But there was nothing to see there, so he was wasting his time.

"You're pregnant," Leo whispered.

"What?"

"Wait, you did already know, right?" Leo's eyes were wide, suddenly worried that he'd spilled the beans.

"I'm just - ," her words of denial were cut off as Leo scooped her up in a hug as his dorky grin spread across his face. "I haven't said yes to being pregnant yet," she grit out before he put her back down.

Leo smirked at her. "You don't have to."

"What does that mean?"

"I can hear it," Leo said simply.

"Hear? You can hear?" Miwa took a step back. "I knew you had good hearing but I had no idea how creepy -," she cut herself off and tilted her head at him. "Wait, you can _hear_ the heart beating?"

Leo smiled at her hopeful look and nodded.

"Can you – can you do like a daily heartbeat check for me, then?"

It wasn't often he saw her look unsure. Or worried. He pulled her into a side hug.

"I can do hourly."

* * *

 **A/N** : A new reader recently ran through this entire series and then surprised me with some really cool sketches (see below)! So when she asked about Leo's reaction to figuring out Miwa was pregnant, I realized that scene had been left out of the story, and thought this might be a nice one-shot to show not only his reaction, but also Miwa's initial reaction at being pregnant, along with the moment she knew it was something she desperately wanted. I think it would be incredibly reassuring to have a ninja turtle brother (or 4) around during a pregnancy. Thanks for the idea, Selene467!

Since FF won't let me post links here, you'll have to travel over to DeviantArt and either look up Selene467 to see the THREE sketches she's created, or you can find my profile (reader315) and check out the "Promise Series Fanart" folder I've created for all the amazing pictures that have been dedicated to the stories.


	20. Exasperated

Leo looked down at his hands. He was still holding his tea cup. It was from a new set that Machi had given him for his birthday. The whole set was painted in his favorite blue. It was calming. And this was the first time he'd ever used it.

Unfortunately, he was no longer in his meditation room sipping his tea.

He continued to sit where he had landed in his inter-dimensional journey and surveyed the space around him. He had been pulled out of his dimension and into a strange one. Again.

 _Raphael was going to kill him._

Based on the arm waving and loud tone of voice by the man standing in front of the rest of the group, Leo was going to guess that he'd been pulled in to be an unwilling warrior for another rebellion. The leader was currently spouting the superior merits of their group based on their _working transporter_ and Leo's eyes moved away from the indescript field surrounded by tiki torches and over to the machine the leader was obviously so proud of. Leo almost smirked. If Donnie was here he'd laugh outright at the ancient, huge machine.

What had his life come to that he could tell how outdated an interdimensional transporter was on sight?

He carefully set the tea cup down beside him before he slowly rose to stand. The action caused the group to immediately begin to advance on him. His hands twitched for his swords, which _of course_ he didn't have on him. But as his eyes narrowed in on the round-bellied men coming towards him, he knew he wasn't going to need them.

Their hands were easily knocked away from his shell and he aimed his fist directly for the leader, intent on sending an immediate message to the rest of the group. He had a small amount of vengeful glee as the leader hit the ground with a loud thud.

The other men hesitated for a moment as their leader fell and the turtle moved into a fighting stance. Clearly there hadn't been a plan for how to handle the warrior past just getting him here.

"I was busy," Leo growled.

Another man decided to attack and Leo swung his leg out to land a kick directly into the man's chest, knocking him back and into two other men. Leo side-stepped his small tea cup as he wrapped an arm around the neck of another man and whipped him around so the guy's flailing feet took down another couple guys.

"Zero manners," Leo grumbled as he dropped the guy out of the choke hold and left him to cough on the ground.

He stepped over his tea cup and kicked over a tiki torch before he caught and twisted a random wrist attempting to grab his shoulder.

"Cant even sit and enjoy post-meditation tea without -," A heaving tug and the guy was flipped onto his back to land with a loud grunt before Leo continued to grumble about his interrupted morning.

He glanced back to this group's interdimensional transporter and happily noted that the tiki torch had landed exactly where he had hoped and the ancient machine was already past saving thanks to the fire.

 _At least one thing was going right this morning_.

He ducked down to avoid a wooden stick aimed for his head and swung his leg out to trip the last two men coming for him.

"Oh come on," he groaned as his sweep resulted in one of the men bumping his tea cup as the pudgy man landed hard on the ground. The small blue cup flew across the grass and Leo groaned as his tea was left to soak into the ground. He scooped up the cup and growled when he saw the small chip in the rim. "Perfect," he muttered.

He continued to shake his head as his attention moved to his own transporter. Donatello had made their new interdimensional transporters so small that they were able to be installed into their belts. Donnie liked to say that the main purpose was to make it easier for Leo and Raph to dimension hop and visit Akito at college. But, Leo was pretty sure Donnie was just tired of tracking him down every time he was pulled into a new dimension against his will.

He couldn't really blame him.

He punched in the code that would take him home and glared one last time at the group's leader who was groggily sitting up from where Leo had dropped him earlier.

A moment later he was standing in the middle of his apartment's main room. He sighed as he looked down at his empty, chipped tea cup and turned to head to the kitchen.

Their apartment door swung open and Raph appeared, eyes slightly wide as he scanned the room, which was followed by an obvious moment of relief when he spotted Leo.

Leo cringed as he realized he'd been closed up in his meditation room upstairs while Raph was right outside the door lifting weights in the main dojo room. And Raphael had obviously found the meditation room empty. He briefly wondered if Raph would believe that he was so advanced in his ninjitsu skills that he could exit the dojo without Raphael even noticing.

Raphael kept his eyes pinned on Leo as he closed their apartment door and stalked towards his mate.

"What the fuck happened?" Raph asked, his voice a low grumbling warning.

"Happened?"

Raph's eyes narrowed at Leo's innocent face. "Yer sweating. And ya smell like smoke. And there's no way ya got past me in the dojo."

Leo almost smiled at Raph's immediate denial of the very thought he'd just had. Instead, he turned and continued into the kitchen. He placed the chipped tea cup down on the counter and pulled down a new, clean cup to pour himself a refill.

Raphael picked up the discarded cup and frowned at the obvious blemish. "Leo," he said, his tone demanding.

Leo was finally able to take one long sip of tea before he set down the new cup and moved across the kitchen to wrap his arms around Raphael. He tucked his face into Raph's neck and was grateful when Raph's strong arms went around his shell.

"So help me, Leo, if ya were pulled into another fire -,"

Leo shook his head and kissed Raph's neck, immediately cutting off his lecture.

"I took care of it this time," Leo murmured. "Even destroyed their transporter on the way out."

Raphael growled anyway, although he was slightly relieved he hadn't known Leo had been pulled away until after he'd already returned. This time.

"You want to come help wash the smoke smell off me?"

Raph nodded as he hoisted Leo up by his thighs in order to carry him off to their shower.

* * *

 **A/N** : A one-shot dedicated to Selene467, who thought it might be funny if Leo had a giant tantrum in response to being turtle-napped to another dimension once again.


	21. In the Lateness of the Evening

Leo's eyes blinked a few times down at his tablet and his head jerked back up as he realized he was dozing off on the couch. He blearily looked up at the clock, wondering how much longer Raphael was going to be, as he was reluctant to actually climb into bed without him.

Shortly after their dinner, Raph had only said that he had an errand to run before kissing Leo into the couch cushions, tossing Leo his tablet, and disappearing out the door. He hadn't given Leo a chance to ask about the errand, nor had he mentioned how long he was going to be.

Leo set his tablet down and stood to stretch. He walked over to the side by side doors that led to their children's bedrooms. Machi was next door tonight for a sleepover with Shadow and he bypassed her door in order to lean against the door frame of Akito's room.

The bed was neatly made. The books were lined up in order of size on his bookshelf. There was still a Captain America poster up on his wall. But the room felt a little cold. And Leo frowned when he saw that dust was settling on Akito's furniture, an unwelcome interloper.

When Raphael finally arrived home, he found Leo in Akito's room. Dusting. Picking each and every book up to wipe them down with a cloth. He crossed the room silently and kissed Leo's temple.

"Come on," he murmured.

Leo set the cloth down on the shelf, leaving it where he could find it tomorrow to finish. For now, he looped his arm around Raph's shell, grateful his favorite turtle was home so he could finally go to bed.

But as Raph pulled him out to the main room, he realized that Raph wasn't leading them towards their bedroom, but towards the exit.

"Where are we going?" Leo asked through a yawn.

"Out," Raph said. He let go of Leo in order to grab Leo's jacket off the hook by the door. He held it up expectantly as Leo's sleepy face stared back in confusion.

Raph held in a smirk.

Leo could see clear amusement in Raph's wide-awake green eyes, and decided not to ask questions. Instead, he slipped his arms into his jacket, earning him a real smile from Raphael before Raph finally leaned in to kiss him. Leo's fingers pressed into the softness of the front of Raph's leather jacket and he forgot about how tired he was or how much he missed their son as he simply stood and kissed Raphael in return. Then Raph pushed him out the door and into the elevator.

Once in the parking lot, Raph handed Leo his spare motorcycle helmet before he straddled his bike and waited for Leo to climb on behind him.

"No goin to sleep back there," Raph said, finally letting his smirk show. "Ya have to hold on."

Leo yawned again at the mention of sleep but dutifully wrapped his arms around Raph.

With a grin, Raph sped off down the tunnel. He hit a button that allowed them to rise to street level and was soon racing through the nighttime New York City streets. Leo watched the lights and people pass by in a blur, secure enough in Raph's reflexes to get them through the streets at this ridiculous speed without worrying about it. The coolness of the nighttime air, which worked pretty damn quickly to wake him up, also had him wrapping himself tighter around Raphael.

They flew over the Varrazano Narrows Bridge and then down the Staten Island expressway before Raph finally pulled off on an exit. A moment later they were pulling into an empty parking lot where Raph parked in a dark corner before cutting the engine and pulling off his helmet.

"Raph?"

Raph slid off the bike and held out his hand expectantly until Leo finally pulled off his own helmet and handed it to him.

"Is this place -,"

"Closed? Yeah. Now get off the bike."

Leo slowly got off the shellcycle while orienting himself with the neighborhood. They were on a side street and there weren't any building relatively close to this one. Raph packed away the helmets and then stood still for another few seconds, as long as his patience would allow, and allowed Leo the chance to look around for danger. Then he grabbed Leo's hand and began to pull him towards a side entrance.

"Ya know, Smith is a pretty chatty guy," Raph said, referencing one of their elite Hamato ninjas. The guy had nearly talked Raph's invisible ears off during training the other day. But, during that discussion, Raph had learned a few fun facts. "Didja know that Smith's brother owns a go-kart and batting cages center?"

Leo felt a grin growing on his face and he silently shook his head in Raph's direction.

"Well he does," Raph said with a return grin. "And Smith was more than happy to give me a spare key, and some instructions on how some of the machinery works, which is where I went after dinner." The fact that they'd had to wait till the middle of the night to head out here after the place had closed was just a bonus for night owl Raphael.

Raph pulled the key from his belt and unlocked the side door. He held the door open for Leo and then locked it again behind them. Leo waited for the doors to be secure before he pulled Raphael into him in the darkened area and kissed him hard. Raphael met the kiss eagerly, at least until he remembered why he'd brought Leo there in the first place.

"What do ya wanna do first?" Raph murmured. "Go-karts or batting cages?"

Leo grinned. "Let's race."

Raphael let himself linger there for another moment as he watched a familiar but recently missing spark light up in Leo's blue eyes. He knew Leo missed Akito, and he did as well, but tonight he wanted Leo out of his head, and out of their apartment, to do something fun. He leaned in and let his lips move slowly over Leonardo's once more before pulling Leo along behind him as he searched out the go karts.

Their eyes widened once they found the large indoor track, and the two of them sprinted towards the front two go-karts like little kids on Christmas morning.

Raph ran his hand over the machine, although he said, "They probably don't go as fast as Donnie's go karts."

"I think you mean Donnie's _patrol buggy_ ," Leo said with a laugh. "And maybe these'll be faster since they're not weighed down with any weapons."

Raphael laughed again as he got both electric machines turned on and then watched Leo hop into one of the karts. "So, Fearless," he said as he sat in his own kart, "care to make a wager?"

"You sure you want to do that?" Leo asked, returning Raph's cocky grin with one of his own. He watched Raphael nod. "First one around the track three times?" Raph grinned and nodded again. Leo's eyes narrowed. "And what do you want if you win? What could you possibly want from me that I don't already do with you?"

"Or what you don't already do _to me_?" Raph asked with goofy, wagging eyebrows.

Leo's mouth set in a straight line as he stared back at the teasing turtle.

"I'm sure I can think of somethin," Raph said around his chuckles.

"Okay," Leo said, wrapping his fingers around the steering wheel and scooting his shell further back in the seat to sit up straighter.

"One more thing, Fearless," Raph said with a smirk. "This is a wooden track, so yer gonna have to go easy on the turns."

Leo's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Go!" Raph yelled, slamming his foot on the gas.

His sudden start didn't startle Leo, however, and he watched as Leo's kart kept up with him on the first straightaway. But his smirk stayed as they hit the first turn. Leo was a lot of impressive things, logical being one of them, but Raph knew the logical side of Leo's brain was about to ignore Raph's warning and bite him in the ass. Raph hit the brakes before he reached the turn and watched as Leo pulled ahead of him. These karts did move slower than Donnie's patrol buggy, and Raph knew Leo was thinking he could control the kart on the turns at that higher speed the way he controlled the buggy through the New York City streets. Raph kept his feet off the pedals as he turned the wheel for the curve and watched as Leo spun out when he tried to take the turn too quickly. He left Leo behind on the curve and hit the gas to speed away on the next straightaway.

* * *

"Yer really cute when yer poutin."

"I am not pouting."

Raph grinned as he made sure the go karts were turned off and back in their original positions while Leo stood off to the side being less than helpful. He turned his cocky grin in Leo's direction and let his eyes roam over the pouting turtle.

"Ya actually went _much faster_ than I was expectin," Raph teased. "I mean, I only beat ya by one entire lap."

Leo crossed his arms as Raph moved in closer to him and bit the inside of his bottom lip to keep his mouth shut. But he did let Raph pull him, and his crossed arms, into him. And his head tilted automatically as Raph's mouth went for his neck.

"How does it feel to be kissed by a winner, Fearless?" Raph asked. He chuckled as Leo huffed out a frustrated sigh. "Let's go find those batting cages. Maybe ya can redeem yerself over there." He wrapped an arm around Leo's shoulders and they followed the signs to the batting cages.

"Like double or nothing?" Leo asked, suddenly interested.

"No way, ya jerk," Raph said. "I'm not givin up my win that easily."

Leo shook his head and smiled, fully realizing that he was going to be hearing about Raph's win for quite some time. Like the next fifty or so family dinners. Christmases. Thanksgiv-

"But I'll give you a chance to have a win tonight if ya want," Raph said with a wink as they walked into the batting cages. He left Leo to the bats while he walked over to the pitching machine.

"So you're giving me a chance at a win?" Leo asked as he lifted one bat and balanced it between his two hands.

Raph turned and eyed his innocent-looking mate, immediately suspicious. Although, he'd never seen Leo anywhere near a baseball bat before, and judging how he was holding one now, he probably didn't have much to worry about.

"Sure, Fearless," he responded. "Whatever keeps ya from poutin the rest of the night. I have plans for you later."

"Later than this?"

Raph's only response was to turn and send Leo a heated look that made Leo's insides twist and warm. He turned away from Raphael to fight off the flush he could feel coming. His honor was at stake and now was not the time to let Raph distract him.

"Ya know, this machine has a lob pitch setting," Raph called out. "Think maybe ya should start with an underhanded pitch?"

"Whatever you think is best, Raphie," Leo said sweetly as he continued to pick up a few different bats to test their weight.

"Nah, we'll go fast pitch," Raph said with an evil grin as he geared up the machine and then headed back towards the other end where Leo was still examining the bats. Thanks to Casey, who typically always had a bat on him, Raphael did have some batting experience and he quickly pulled a bat from the collection and gave it a quick test swing.

"Best out of ten?" Leo asked, swinging the bat he'd finally chosen.

Raphael nodded before jogging over to the shelves where the baseball helmets were stored. He grabbed two and returned to Leo's side, tossing a blue one to the other turtle.

"You want to go first?"

"Sure," Raph said. He positioned himself in front of the machine and nodded to Leo to hit the start button. The sound of the first ball being launched out of the machine was soon followed by a loud smack as Raph's bat connected easily with the ball and quickly sent it in the other direction.

Leo watched Raph's form closely as another ball was launched towards his mate. It was proving to be a less than helpful exercise as he was easily distracted by the way Raph's biceps bunched up as he swung the bat. And by the way Raph's tail wagged after each successful hit.

Leonardo swallowed hard and tried to ignore the twitch he could feel in his lower plastron. His strong Raphael was clearly very good at this as well. Obviously, it was time to employ some classic distraction techniques.

Raph hit his fourth baseball in a row with a wide grin and shifted his feet slightly to prepare for the next. There was a loud noise behind him and he turned to find that Leo had dropped his baseball helmet on the concrete and was now bending to pick it up. As in bending over with his ass in the air and his tail pointed in Raphael's direction. Raph's mouth dropped open at the sight. He watched as Leo remained in the same provocative position while he picked the helmet up off the ground and brushed it off for a few moments.

The sound of a baseball hitting the chain link fence behind him disrupted his thoughts and he whipped back around and glared down at the baseball he'd missed.

"Was that one too fast for you, Raphie?"

Raphael growled but refused to turn his glare towards the turtle behind him, despite the tone of voice that immediately told him Leo's previous position had been intentional. He swung hard at the next ball. And missed.

"Ouch," Leo said from behind him, although his tone of voice was missing the typical empathy that might go with such a statement. "Maybe you shouldn't swing so hard if you're going to miss. Looks like you could really pull something."

"Leo," Raph growled.

Another ball was launched out and Raph once again swung hard. And missed.

"Don't hurt your wrists, please," Leo called out. "I may have plans for them later."

"Hey, ya haven't won jack shit, yet, Fear-," Raph cut himself off as he made the mistake of turning to look at Leo again.

Fuckin hell.

He had a sudden flashback of teenaged Leo driving Donnie's patrol buggy. Donnie made them all wear various helmets before they went out in that thing and teenaged Leo had been given a baseball helmet. Raphael had been attracted to Leo back then as it was. And that was before Leo had put a goddamn baseball helmet on his head. He'd had to force himself to stare directly at Leo's hands and listen closely for orders just to avoid looking directly at him in the helmet while they were on patrol back then.

And now here was adult Leonardo wearing a baseball helmet. Adult Leonardo who he was still very attracted to, who he was lucky to call his mate, and who still looked incredibly sexy in a baseball helmet. Why had he tossed Leo the blue one? The blue one that was identical to the one Leo'd had as a teen. The blue one that made Leo's blue eyes glow.

Fuckin hell.

A slow grin spread across Leo's face as he recognized Raphael's expression. He hadn't had any further distraction plans other than wagging his tail in Raph's face and a little smack talk. And that had at least earned him three misses from Raph. But now he appeared to be distracting his favorite turtle without even trying.

Another ball flew past Raph and hit the chain link fence behind him, snapping him out of his thoughts of pinning Leo to the ground right there in the batting cage.

"You only have two shots left," Leo said with a smug smile.

"Bottom of my priority list right now," Raph gruffed as he turned to face the pitching machine again.

"We'll discuss bottoms later."

" _Leo_ ," Raph growled out as he narrowed his eyes and watched as the next ball was pitched towards him. He swung again and thankfully connected with the ball. The loud cracking noise, however, had Leo stepping forward to peer over Raph's shoulder.

"Whoa," Leo said in a low voice in Raph's ear as he stared down at Raph's splintered bat. "Guess you're not going to make that last hit, huh?"

Raphael growled and tossed the broken bat back into the fence as the final ball was pitched towards them.

"So that was five out of ten, right?" Leo asked.

Raphael refused to look at Leo now as he moved out of his way in order to lean against the box where the bats were kept. "Have you ever hit a baseball?"

"Nope," Leo said, planting himself in front of the machine, and doing his best to copy Raph's previous stance. His eyes focused as the first ball was pitched towards him and he swung and easily knocked it back towards the machine.

Raphael frowned. "Never?"

"Well, now I have," Leo said with a quick grin in Raph's direction before he refocused and hit the next one.

"So what have you hit?" Raph asked with a resigned sigh after Leo hit his fourth consecutive pitch.

"Food."

Raphael frowned. "From when we were kids?"

"Yes," Leo said, hitting ball number five.

"When sensei would toss fruit at you for sword target practice?"

"Yes," Leo said, grinning to himself as he swung and hit the winning sixth pitch. "My aim improved and our food was sliced into small enough pieces that Mikey quit choking."

Raph hummed in response and watched as Leo swung again and hit the next ball as well.

"Ya done?"

"Why?" Leo asked. "You finally tired?" He stepped back with a grin as Raph walked back to the pitching machine to shut it down.

"Whoa, Fearless," Raph said, as he watched Leo pull the baseball helmet off his head and head back towards the shelves where Raph had previously retrieved them. "We're bringin that helmet home."

"We're not stealing this helmet," Leo said, shaking his head as he placed the helmet back on the shelves.

"Hey," Raph growled with narrowed eyes and a finger pointing in Leo's direction, "how often do I wear those goggles for ya?"

Leo's mouth snapped shut before he gingerly picked the helmet back up and hugged it into his plastron.

Raph's face morphed into a wide grin. "I'll leave em some money for it on the counter."

* * *

 **A/N** : This may have begun as Raph's revenge in regards to Leo waking him early. _And_ I may have been feeling all kinds of nostalgic while writing this, which resulted in pulling in pieces from quite a few Promise series chapters. That wasn't intentional, but once I started, it couldn't be helped.


	22. You Make Me Smile

"Roses are red. Violets are blue. Blah, blah, blah, I want you."

Leo's eyes lit up, but he kept his mouth even and rolled to his side in the sand, resting his head up on his raised hand.

"I love you enough to -," Leo paused deliberately and looked down at the turtle who lay basking on his shell next to him. He let half his mouth twist up into a smirk "- to never cook for you."

Raphael pursed his mouth, forbidding his traitorous lips from lifting into a smile. His eyes moved from the sunny blue sky back to Leo's blue eyes before he spoke again.

"Yer face. I love that shit."

The corner of Leo's lips twitched, but he fought against it and pushed on. "We're like hot chocolate and marshmallows. You're hot and I want to be on top of you."

One of Leo's eye ridges rose when he heard a low, gravely noise from Raph's throat. He was suspicious that the growl was being used to cover a churr, especially since Raphael was refusing to meet his eyes. But the noise didn't repeat, and Leo decided to let it slide.

Raphael swallowed once he was assured that Leo wasn't going to call him out on his response to that last line. He cleared his throat before saying, "Well, I'm here, what were yer other two wishes?"

Leo tilted his head so that his eyes could easily roam down Raph's hard body, allowing him to admire the way the emerald skin looked in the sun. He liked Raph's line, but the other turtle wasn't getting a laugh out of him for it, mainly because Raphael as his mate was always going to be a dream come true, not that he was going to say that mushy line out loud at this moment.

He was vaguely aware that Raph's eyes were back on his face and took advantage by letting his tongue move slowly over his bottom lip as he thought of another cheesy pickup line for their game.

"I'm not a weatherman," Leo said, "but I think you can expect quite a few inches tonight."

Raphael barked out a loud laugh. "Holy shit, Leo!"

A real smile finally crossed Leo's face as he listened to the rumbling sound of Raphael's laughter. He let himself fall forward off the arm he'd been resting on so that he could settle into Raphael's side and nuzzle his face into Raph's neck.

"You almost had me," Leo murmured as he listened to Raph's laughter die down.

"If yer gonna go that far, then I'm playin dirty next time, babe," Raph responded. He let his eyes slide shut, happy to have Leo tucked into him as he shifted his shell further into the sand.

* * *

 **A/N** : First, I owe you guys a huge THANK YOU for your votes in the recent 2014-2015 TMNT Mature Fanfiction Competition! **Stamina tied for 2** **nd** **place in the "Best Lewd Comedy" category** (against freaking Hummerhouse, who has written some of my all-time favorite stories). You guys made me smile, and I hope this (albeit short) chapter made you smile as well.

Seriously, thank you guys for not only taking the time to vote, but also for your continued support for these stories. It's been a little over a year since I began actively writing in this community and I've just had the best time.

Secondly, I was recently on vacation and spotted a house that looked almost exactly like the one I had written for the Hamato family's island home – right down to the color! I took a picture, which I'm sorry you can't see here on FF. However, I'm posting it with this chapter on the archives site, and I also posted it on my tumblr account (Reader115 on both sites if you want to see the house and tell me I'm not crazy).


	23. The Star Wars Rationale

"Here it is," Akito said, stopping once they passed the turnstiles to stand and look over his fathers' former home. He'd had to dig through some of his Uncle Donnie's paperwork, under the premise of looking for a particular city map, in order to find a map of the sewers that would lead them here, but he'd managed.

"I remember this place," Violet said, continuing past him to walk into the former lair.

She bypassed the pit and headed straight for the dojo. She stopped at the entrance and sensed more than heard Akito follow. All of the dojo's carpet flooring remained, although the carpets appeared stiff rather than soft. She stood still for a moment and pictured her brothers and sister with her here as tiny bunnies under the tutelage of Master Leonardo.

"My siblings and I were terrible students before you showed up in our class," she said with a smile as she felt Akito's arms wrap around her middle.

"Oh, I know," Akito murmured into the fur on the side of her face, making her ear twitch in response. "Many family dinners included stories from those early, dark days."

"Dark?" Violet asked, twisting so she could look up at him and allow him to see the brow she'd quirked up.

"Apparently, Dad had to endure many terrors with some unruly ninjitsu bunnies," Akito said with a grin.

She elbowed him and he stumbled back, releasing her with a laugh. She watched as he walked out onto the carpets.

"Akito, we really need to talk," she said softly. She watched one of his ears flick towards her voice, although he didn't turn to look at her. Her stomach clenched for a moment and she kicked herself for trying to bring this up. But then he did look her way, and his eyes were full of the kind of patience that only came from having Master Leonardo for a father.

"We've been over this," Akito simply said.

"I really think you need to consider long term -,"

"Hey, Violet, I have a secret to tell you."

She looked his way, but would've been more interested if he didn't already have a playful smile on his face, promising her that whatever the secret, it was surely something she already knew.

He took a dramatic breath. "Hamato Leonardo and Hamato Raphael are not my birth parents. I was adopted."

"Akito," Violet said, crossing her arms and frowning at him.

"I know, it's a shock," Akito said, nodding. "But, stick with me, cause there's more."

"Hamato Akito, I swear to -,"

"Master Splinter is not _their_ birth father," he interjected. He took another deep breath. "He adopted the turtles."

"It's suddenly not clear to me why I love you so much," she muttered and watched him only grin at her. She took a breath and tried again. "Akito, we need to seriously have this conversation. You do realize you're being groomed to be the future clan leader, right? Between that and those special abilities of yours, don't you think you should be able to have your own children? And that is just not going to happen with -," she paused for a moment, " – with me."

Akito's face softened as he crossed the space between them and dared to wrap his arms around her soft shoulders.

"Violet, do you think Luke Skywalker's main goal in life was to have a biological kid just so the power of the force could be passed on?"

Violet groaned and pushed his arms away.

"That didn't work out so great for Han and Leia, now did it?"

"Akito, I love you, but I can't take you seriously while you're making Star Trek-,"

"Wars."

She sighed. "Fine, Star _Wars_ comparisons with _our_ life."

Akito's eyes focused closely on her face, making sure he had her full eye contact before continuing.

" _Our life_ , Vi," he said. "I like the sound of that."

She lowered her crossed arms and let a small smile cross her face.

"We waited a long time to be together," Akito continued, pulling one of her hands into his own. "To be in the same dimension together all the time. And not being able to have our own biological children is never going to be reason enough not to have you by my side for the rest of my life."

"Are you sure?" she whispered up to him, her eyes still locked with his.

"Do you know why I wanted to find the old lair?" he asked her. He watched her shake her head slowly before he spoke again. "Because I wanted to be in the place where we first met to get down on my knee -," he dropped down to one knee – "and ask you to _marry me_ , Violet."

* * *

A/N: I wrote this a couple months ago but finally tweaked it enough to want to share it. I'm picturing this little scene happening a year or so after these two graduated from college.

I think we all know what her answer is.


	24. Raphael's Excellent Adventure

If there was one thing he could count on, it was that wherever there was a Leonardo, there was also a Raphael. Until that time where there wasn't.

* * *

Leonardo stood and looked around the large outdoor marketplace. The sign had said it was a _Farmer's Market_ but he wondered how accurate that was considering most of the people seemed to be selling pottery or quilts. He didn't see anyone selling farm equipment. And this would be an odd way to sell an actual farm.

He wasn't currently shopping, though as his eyes continued to scan the crowd. He was growing uneasy since the sheer size of the place and the number of shoppers made it impossible for him to keep track of his entire clan all at once. He kept seeing glimpses of them, but everyone was spread out. Too spread out for his liking, especially in this dimension _,_ in Usag - _no_ , he chided himself, - he had told himself to stop calling it Usagi's dimension and start referring to it as Akito and Machi's home dimension, a statement that was also true and should be easy to say. Plus, it was where Akito currently lived, which is what had brought the clan here this weekend for a visit.

It had been Raph's idea for the entire clan to come with them this time. And it had been Raph's idea to head to the farmer's market after he'd seen it advertised in the lobby of Akito's dorm. But Raphael hadn't said anything about the entire group _scattering_ the second they arrived in order to explore. Leo watched as Akito, Violet, and Machi, who he did manage to keep in his sights at all times, laughed together at a table full of – Leo focused on the strangely shaped items on the table – soaps?

His kids were having a good time laughing at soaps. He reminded himself to relax. And reminded himself that the resistance group had been demolished here. And that Usagi was in jail. And that this was a safe place for them. Even out in the open.

He was distracted in the next moment, however, as his mouth was covered by familiar lips. His eyes slid shut as Raphael's scent filled his nose.

And since he was currently occupying Raphael's mouth, he was confused by the sound of growling curses in Raphael's voice. And even more confused a moment later as he was yanked backwards and away from Raphael. His fierce gaze was already in place as his head spun towards the intruder. But he was shocked when he found that it was _Raph_ who had pulled him away from kissing Raphael. And it was Raph who was currently glaring daggers at –

"Raphael," Leo said, turning his head back to the _other_ Raphael turtle who had initiated the kiss with him, "what are you doing here?"

"And why the fuck are ya kissin him?" Raph growled, tightening his fingers around his Leo's upper arm.

The other, younger Raphael stared back at them, clearly stunned with wide eyes and a mouth dropped open in surprise.

"I, uh, I thought he was mine," the other Raphael stuttered and offered a shrug. "I snuck up on him so he didn't have a chance to talk," he offered, since the other Raphael was not only glaring at him, but glaring at Leo as well.

Leo could practically feel Raph's glower burn the side of his face and he turned to meet Raph's angry expression with a sheepish shrug of his own as he pulled his arm out of Raph's tight grip. "I thought he was you," he offered, although he also thought that should be blatantly obvious. But Raphael continued to glare, even as the other Leo finally joined their group, along with their father.

Master Splinter eyed the three other turtles as they approached. There was clear tension in the air, which was unusual as he knew they'd all met it the past.

"I forgot to mention I invited these two for a lunch visit here today," Master Splinter said. He watched as his Leonardo offered a nod and small smile while his Raphael only moved his glare to the ground. "I'm going to take them down the street to a restaurant I spotted earlier," he continued. "I'll meet you all back at the hotel later."

Leonardo nodded again and offered a quick hello to the other Leo before the three of them turned to walk down the sidewalk away from them. He watched as the other Raph looped his fingers in with the other Leo's fingers as they walked away before he turned back to his very own Raph. He reached forward to pull Raph's hand into his own but his eyes widened as Raphael took a step away from him.

"Raph?"

"You just kissed someone else," Raph growled, moving his eyes away from the ground in order to glare at Leo's face again.

"Someone I thought was you," Leo insisted.

"It makes it worse that you didn't know it wasn't me."

"Worse?" Leo said, suddenly shocked that they were even having his conversation. "I didn't hear his voice. And I'm sorry, Raphie, but he smells just like you!"

Raphael could only growl again as the image of Leo being kissed by someone else refused to leave his head, no matter who that someone else happened to be.

"Where did you go anyway?" Leo asked. "What happened to not leaving my side?"

"I have to be by yer side at all times to keep ya from kissin someone else?"

Leo growled now himself. "Raphael."

"I was getta ya somethin," Raph said, shaking the white paper bag he had in his hand. He watched Leo's eyes light up, but he was still too pissed to let the subject be changed. He growled again as he turned and stomped away from Leo, tossing the white bag into a nearby trashcan as he went.

He didn't stop his stomping until he reached the hotel where they were all staying. He reached for the door, but was surprised when it suddenly swung out towards him and slammed into his face. The impact knocked him back a step and he groaned while his hands flew to his face.

"Raphael?"

Raph froze and opened his eyes in order to peer through the fingers covering his face. He lowered his hands completely as his eyes moved around the room. He was no longer on the noisy sidewalk outside his hotel, but inside a quiet apartment he'd never seen before. Leo sat in front of him in an overstuffed chair. Although, judging by the strange tone of this turtle's voice, this was not his Leo.

Raphael's eyes only widened as he watched Leo set down the book he'd been reading and slowly rise from his seat with a bewildered look on his face. And he wasn't shocked solely because this was clearly an alternate dimension Leo, but because this Leo was scary skinny and had one arm bandaged and held close to his plastron in a sling.

"What's wrong, Raph? Is it Donnie or Mikey? Are they okay?"

Raphael stared incredulously back at this Leo as a bone-cold chill ran through him. He took a step back and bumped into another chair before swinging around to get his bearings. He snatched up a framed photo from a nearby shelf and gaped at the picture of a healthier Leo smiling back at the camera, with his arm wrapped around Usagi, who was smiling not at the camera, but fondly back at Leo. He thrust the photo in Leo's direction.

"What the fuck is this?"

Leo's eyes narrowed at him. "Are you okay, Raph?" he asked. "You sound kind of funny."

Raphael tossed the photo back towards the shelf and watched the glass crack down the middle before he began to pace. His fingers moved to his belt where his own interdimensional transporter was located, but something stopped him from pushing the buttons. There was something wrong here.

"Plus," Leo continued, growing more and more confused as he watched Raphael stalk around the room, "you've never visited me here before."

"That's because I'm not your Raphael," Raph finally said. He stopped pacing when he saw Leo subtly move into a more offensive position. "Look – I am Raphael, okay? I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm a Raph from another dimension."

"Oh," Leo said, plainly as he straightened where he stood once again.

"Oh?" Raph said, slightly surprised. "Ya believe me just like that? Have you met other Raphaels before?"

"No," Leo said. "But I've traveled to other dimensions with Usagi for missions. I'm aware of the existence of interdimensional travel."

"With _Usagi_?" Raph asked, practically spitting the rabbit's name out of his mouth. "Why would ya do that?"

Leo crossed his arms. "You may not be my brother, but this is already beginning to sound like a familiar argument."

"What does that mean?"

"Raphael has never forgiven me for leaving New York City to live here with Usagi, but this is where Usagi prefers to live."

Raphael sank down into a chair as he felt the air leave his lungs. He sat frozen for an unknown amount of time until a glass of ice water was pushed into his hand.

"Drink," Leo said, eyeing him closely, "before you actually faint."

"Who cares where the rabbit wants to live?" Raph huffed out in an exhale, already terrified of the answer. He could feel a painful knot develop in his stomach.

"I've been over this with Raphael," Leo said with a sigh. "But, you'd live where your mate wanted to live, right?"

Raphael hardly noticed that he'd dropped the full glass of water to the carpeted floor as he let his head fall into his hands. "Oh, fuck," he whispered. He forced air in through his nose and out through his mouth repeatedly. Leo came back into his vision a moment later as the other turtle hunched down and tried to soak up the spilled water with a towel using his uninjured arm.

"Mate?" Raphael croaked out as he slid off the chair to the ground and snatched the towel away from him to finish cleaning the mess.

Leo let Raph take over with the towel, the spill was his fault after all, and did his best not to roll his eyes at this other Raphael.

"So all Raphaels hate the fact that I mated with Usagi, huh?" he asked dryly.

"Please don't ever say _that_ sentence to me again," Raph growled as the knot in his stomach began to throb.

"Fine," Leo said. "It doesn't matter anyway. I kicked Usagi out a few days ago."

Raphael's head snapped up to meet Leo's gaze. "Yer not with him anymore?"

"That's what I just said."

Raphael's entire body sank in relief, but he eyed Leo again. "What the fuck happened to you? You look like ya ain't been eatin. And what the hell happened to yer arm? And why are ya still here if yer not with the rabbit anymore? Why didn't ya go home?"

Leo smiled fondly at Raphael as he suddenly realized how much he had missed _protective Raphael_ over the years.

"I guess I haven't been eating that well lately," Leo finally said after thinking it over. "I'm just not that hungry when I'm stressed."

"Stressed from what?"

Leo fidgeted for a moment, and finally decided to tell this Raph the truth. It wasn't his Raphael after all, so he decided to get his troubles off his plastron, and hoped to avoid the _I told you so_ that he would likely receive from his own brother.

"I thought I was in love with Usagi," he said slowly, and watched as Raphael visibly flinched. "So, it took me a while to realize how – controlling he was. One day I realized he dictated every aspect of my life. From my training to how I trained my own students to forbidding me from visiting my brothers."

The knot in Raphael's stomach threatened to literally twist his stomach into a pretzel as he listened. The images running through his mind of the rabbit controlling _everything_ Leo did was going to haunt him.

"He'd never really used force on me for anything, but when I asked him to leave," Leo's voice trailed off as he raised his injured arm a little ways away from his plastron.

"He did that to yer arm?" Raphael growled.

"He just caught me off guard," Leo said as shame colored his face for allowing the injury to happen.

Raphael's breathing increased again until he was practically panting. He was beginning to see red. "Why the fuck are ya still here? What if he comes back now while yer injured?"

Leo shook his head slowly. "It was a pretty loud fight. The neighbors called the police and Usagi was taken to jail. He's not coming back here any time soon."

Relief, anger, and continued confusion warred within the knot in his stomach. "Why haven't ya gone home yet?" he finally asked again.

"This has been my home for several years, Raph," Leo said. He saw a look of outrage grow on Raph's face and quickly continued. "I've thought about it, okay? But I have a dojo here and I'm not ready to leave my students." He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "Plus, Raphael wasn't the only brother upset with me when I left. And it's not like they need me there. I mean, they're all grown up turtles, and - ,"

"They need ya," Raphael growled at him. "Ya can't tell me that Raphael is doing well without ya."

"Raph?" Leo asked, dubiously. "You heard me say he's never visited right? Raphael hates me. Out of the three of them, he's the least likely to want me to come ba -,"

His words were cut off as this other Raphael leaned forward suddenly and connected their mouths for a kiss. Leo's thoughts halted as he found himself immediately kissing back, as if this was his mouth's true purpose. Immediately leaning forward on his knees to get closer. Immediately lifting a hand to rest it on Raph's upper arm.

The additional contact on his bicep had Raphael pull back from the kiss as he remembered that this was not _his_ Leo. There was a twinge of guilt in his chest, but he couldn't let this Leo go on thinking that Raphael hated him. He couldn't leave this Leo, and as a result, this Raphael, in distress like this. Leonardos and Raphaels belonged together.

Although he'd stopped the kiss, he still remained within inches of this other Leo's face and watched as those blue eyes reopened.

"Oh," Leo whispered out, although his brain and his heart were simultaneously screaming _passion heat love protection Raphael._

"He needs ya," Raph growled at him as he watched honest realization cross Leo's face as a result of the kiss. "Ya never shoulda been here. Ya shoulda always been with him."

Leo leaned back to rest his weight on his ankles again. "Oh," he whispered out once more. He watched as this Raphael shifted backwards as well and leaned his shell against the chair. "He's mad at me, though," he said, slowly. "I can't just show up and kiss him."

Raphael let a smirk cross his face. "That's exactly what yer gonna do." He rose quickly to his feet, intent on getting this Leo moving and back to his own Raphael as soon as possible. But he felt a rush of dizziness as he stood and quickly covered his face with his hands.

When he lowered his hands a moment later, he was standing in the farmer's market again. He stared at the stands of farm fresh vegetables and looked incredulously down at the small white paper bag in his hand. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, he quickly spun his head to the left and watched as the other Raphael snuck up on his unsuspecting Leonardo before he began to kiss him. Instead of charging over this time, however, Raph paused and watched. There hadn't been any words spoken between those two, and Leo's eyes had immediately closed as he sank into the kiss.

Raph still didn't enjoy the sight, but damn did it look better than Leo kissing the rabbit would ever look.

His feet finally began moving forward and he grabbed hold of the other Raphael and yanked him off his Leo.

"Go kiss yer own Leo," he said, gruffly as he wrapped his arm around his Leo's shoulders and pulled him into his side.

"I, uh, I thought he was mine," the other Raphael stuttered and offered a shocked shrug. "Guess that's what I get for sneaking up on him."

Raphael could see the shock on his own Leo's face as Leo's arm moved to wrap back around his shell in return right before the other Leo arrived with Master Splinter, who announced they were going to lunch. And although he continued to frown at his counterpart's retreating shell, it was a half-hearted glare. He watched as green hands found each other as they walked and realized he was mostly just feeling a strong sense of relief in seeing a Leonardo and a Raphael together. Where they belonged.

Leo tilted his head and watched the strange combination of emotions cross his emerald turtle's face as he watched those three walk away. He ran a hand down the side of Raph's face to get his attention and offered a sheepish shrug when Raph's eyes moved back his way.

"Sorry, Raphie."

Raphael shook his head and pulled Leo even closer to him. "Not yer fault," he murmured against the side of Leo's face before he felt Leo relax against him. "And at least now I know what we look like when we're kissin."

Leo huffed out a laugh before asking, "Where did you go anyway? What happened to not leaving my side?"

"I'll never leave yer side," Raph growled, and then watched as Leo raised an eye ridge in surprise. "And, uh, I was getta ya somethin," Raph said, ignoring the unspoken question. He'd tell Leo about his own adventure later, after he sorted through what happened and didn't feel so raw.

For now, Leo's eyes lit up as Raph handed him the white paper bag he'd been holding. Leo glanced quickly at the contents and then back up to Raphael, who only stared at him expectedly. Leo shrugged internally, pulled out the baked good, and took a bite. His eyes lit up once again as the taste of the muffin filled his mouth.

"Is this -?"

"It's a ginger green tea muffin," Raph said with a grin as he watched Leo take another large bite. "Ya like it?"

"Like it?" Leo asked incredulously around a mouthful of muffin, "this is almost the best thing I've ever put in my mouth."

Raphael managed to bark out a laugh before Leo's crumb-covered mouth met his for a kiss. He slid his hand around Leo's shell and pulled him in close, not caring that they were standing in a public place as he threw himself into the kiss with Leo. His thoughts drifted to the other Leo and what a sad and unhappy life he'd had up to that point. But his thoughts were brought back to the present as he heard a low churr roll up Leo's throat.

"Well, if that's how ya feel about one muffin, wait till I tell ya that I convinced the guy to give me the recipe for em."

Leo's grin grew wide. "Love you, Raphie. You're the best," he said before shoving the last bit of muffin in his mouth.

Raphael pulled him in close once move and let his eyes roam over his happy, healthy Leo's face.

"Aishiteru, Leonardo."

* * *

 **A/N** : Did he dimension hop? Time travel? I had these thoughts while writing this. I'm not sure its either scenario. More like a "Christmas Carol-like" glimpse into what could have been in order to reinforce the fact that Leos belong with Raphs and they should do what they gotta do to make sure that happens.

I'd also like to thank Stitcherbell for providing the initial idea for this chapter in one of our recent conversations. I'm pretty much convinced that every writer needs a Stitcherbell.

And since I can't respond to you directly, Wolfie, I'm going to take a moment right here and just say thank you for saying Akito is your absolute favorite OC. I think part of what kept me from publishing that last chapter for so long was that, important as those two are in this family, they are both OCs. So, it means a great deal to me that you enjoy Akito, that so many of you request stories centered around just "the kids", and that you also enjoy chapters that don't have a single turtle to be seen (not that I'm going to make a habit out of them).


	25. Family Photo

Mikey frowned as he peered through the camera viewfinder before refocusing on the group in front of him. "We're gonna have to squeeze closer together."

"I don't think we can get any closer."

"Are you complaining?" Leo turned his head so he could nuzzle his nose against Raph's cheek in response to his mate's grumble.

"Not at all." Raphael said with a sigh as he scooped Machi up in one arm and then looped a tight arm around Leo's shoulder.

"Maybe we should just take individual family photos?" April suggested as she watched Casey chase after Shadow.

"Yeah, we could find a frame that would fit a bunch of smaller group pictures," Donnie added. "Then they'd all be in one place."

Michelangelo's immediate puppy dog eyes stilled their tongues from trying to talk him out of this large group shot and Yoshi smiled quietly as he watched the group of them go back and forth. His eyes focused in on baby Gabriel and he had a sudden image of his four boys as turtle tots. He wished he'd been able to take pictures of them when they were that small. But, he could only be happy now to think that their current family was too large to fit in a single photo frame.

"Raph I want you to smile."

"I am smiling." Raph's voice was gruff as he rolled his eyes at his little brother.

"Look at your son. Raised by you and yet still able to smile for a photo."

"Akito could sneeze the second you take the picture and he'd still look like that."

"That's not actually technically possible," Donnie muttered.

Akito just tried to keep smiling at the camera, doing his best to be cooperative so they could get this over with and he could spend time with Violet before she had to go home.

"Are you sure I should be in this?" Violet whispered up to Akito.

Akito rubbed a nervous hand across the back of his neck, but still wrapped an arm around her to keep her close. He could hear the complaints about their group already being too large, and he knew she _technically_ wasn't a member of the Hamato family. Not yet at least. But he still wanted her to be in the photo. He opened his mouth to reassure her, but his dad beat him to it.

"Yes," Leo murmured over to the two of them before he glanced their way. "You stay right there."

"Hai, sensei," Violet whispered back before shooting a small smile up towards Akito.

"Oh! I brought boxes for some of us to stand on!" Woody said before running over to where he and Mikey had left them. "I bet we'll fit better in two rows."

"Pizza boxes?" Master Splinter asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"We've been saving them!" Mikey pitched in and began stacking boxes behind his brothers.

"Uh, Mike." Leo's eyes were wide with worry as he watched their father climb up on a stack of pizza boxes. "Maybe _we_ should stand on the boxes, instead of-,"

"Don't you move, Leo. Clan leader stands front and center."

"So I get to be clan leader in the picture, but don't get to give any instructions here?" Leo asked while cringing until it was clear the boxes were going to hold their father's weight.

"Yup. Just. Stand. There." Mikey instructed as he moved onto the next stack of boxes for Miwa.

Leo scowled at the back of Mikey's head as he heard Raph chuckle next to him. But he didn't move from his spot. Or offer further suggestions. Mikey had been bugging all of them for a group photo for weeks now and while he wasn't sure the pizza boxes were the safest idea, he was too interested now to see the final result to put up much of a fight against their little brother.

Miwa also stared dubiously down at her own stack of pizza boxes and exchanged a small shrug with Casey and April as she climbed up on top of them. At least in her new spot she was behind Machi and she shared a warm smile with her small niece from where the small fox sat perched on one of Raphael's arms.

Donnie adjusted baby Gabriel in his arms when the little one started to fuss and Sadie turned towards Mikey and her brother. "I'm not sure he's going to let us stand here much longer."

"Leo, go talk to little G about the importance of patience."

"I thought I wasn't allowed to move from my spot," Leo said dryly.

There were a few soft chuckles from some of the group members, a much needed break from the tension as they watched Mikey actually shoot Leo an evil side eye. It didn't help that Leo's only response to the baby brother's irritation was a wide grin as he made a show of planting his feet further where he stood.

"Hey, if a crying baby gets us out of this picture, my baby is starting to look upset as well," Raph said right before he dug his fingers into Machi's side.

"I'm not a baby!" Machi tried to squeal through her giggles. She managed to push her papa's tickling fingers away while staying perched on his other arm.

"That wasn't really the response I was goin for," Raph said with a deep sigh, doing his best to appear disappointed. "I need ya to cry, Mach."

"I'm going to smile for this picture and so are you." Machi tugged on the tails of his red mask with a grin.

" _Thank you, Machi_ ," Mikey muttered as he adjusted April and Casey once more so they could be seen behind Leo and Raph.

"Just look at daddy," Machi whispered to her papa. "He always makes you smile."

"You make me smile, too," he whispered in response. Then he nuzzled his face against Machi's before rewrapping his other arm around Leo. He turned to see if Leo was still engaging in a mini glaring war with Mikey, but found that Leo had turned his complete attention back to him.

"I love you," Leo whispered over to him. He loved his favorite turtle anyway, but seeing _Papa Raphael_ in action always did fun things to his insides.

Raphael froze. While he enjoyed Leo's whispered words, he was once again struck by the clear love and adoration he could see in Leonardo's blue eyes. Leonardo's darkening, darkening blue eyes. He growled softly at Leo, doing his best to keep it between the two of them despite the large group that surrounded them. And when Leo's face turned innocent and his eye ridge raised in question at Raph's attempt to warn him to stop teasing him, Raph could only smile deviously back at him. "Aishiteru," he murmured as he silently planned out that night's activities with his mate.

Shadow took off once more as April climbed onto her own stack of boxes, prompting Casey to chase after her again. He swung the tiny girl up on his shoulders and quickly returned to the group. Then he hopped up on his own stack of boxes and did his best to smile as Shadow chomped down on his head.

"Ya got two minutes, Mike," Casey announced.

Feeling satisfied with everyone's new placements, Mikey sprinted back to the camera and peered at the group through the viewfinder once again. Finally, he grinned up at the group.

"Twenty seconds!" he announced before making a mad dash back to his own spot next to Woody.

* * *

 **A/N** : Since getting this many family members in one photo is always _so much fun,_ this is pretty much how I imagine this scene would go. Although in reality this took so much time and work and effort from Sakycchan to create something with so many characters, that I'm sure it was really no less of a hassle!

I've honestly always wanted a real family photo with not just the guys, but some of my OCs included as well, and I knew Sakycchan would bring them all to life in way that was _warm_ and _adorable_ and _real_. I know this was a work trade, but I still can't thank you enough, Saky. This means a great deal to me.

(Sorry FanFiction site folks, you'll have to head over to the Archives site or Tumblr to see the end result – Reader115 on both sites.)


	26. I'm Here

He didn't know how he got here. He just knew it was dark and he was alone. He shouldn't be alone, though, right? There should be someone else beside him. He could feel their absence more strongly than he could feel his fear about this unknown place. Why couldn't he remember who he was missing? And perhaps more importantly, where were they?

Then there was a small light in the distance. He tried to take a step backwards as he realized the light was moving towards him, but suddenly realized he was unable to move. He was formless. No legs. No arms. No body. It was just his mind here, floating in this black space, similar to the light that was floating closer and closer to him.

Unable to move anyway, he waited until the light was in front him. The light was warm, meant to be comforting, and chased away the cold, dark dread he'd been feeling moments before. And before he could ask any questions, the lighted creature spoke.

"I am here to help you choose your next step."

"What next step?"

"It is time to choose a path for your next life."

"Choose?"

"Yes. This choice is a privilege earned after your sacrifices in your previous life."

"I died," he said softly.

"And now it is time to live again. Would you like to hear your choices? There are two."

"Yes," he said, weakly. Because there it was again, that pain of missing someone. Of not being able to see or touch or talk to the one he was supposed to be with right now. But why couldn't he picture them? Why couldn't he pull up their face? And if he was dead, were they okay? He couldn't even remember how he died. Had he been alone then? Or had they been with him?

He tried to push the painful thoughts away as the creature began to speak again. If this little meeting was a special reward, he should probably pay attention.

"The first choice is one of ease and contentment as a turtle. This life will feature happy swims and basking in the sun on rocks in a private lake near a farmhouse. There will be plenty to eat. You will not be alone and will, in fact, help produce offspring with random, nearby turtles. And you will live a long and healthy life."

His mind did the equivalent of a frown as he thought about this option. It sounded – nice enough? So why did he feel like there was a catch?

"What's the second option?"

"The second option is to also begin as a turtle. But your form will change due to an outside source and leave you to live as a blend of both turtle and human. However, you will be unable to live in the world of either a human or a wild turtle, as you will belong to neither entirely. Instead, you will remain underground and in the shadows."

The lighted creature paused and considered the being to which they had been tasked to present these choices. Although the two choices so far seemed drastically different with one outweighing the other in positivity, making it an easy choice for most, this mid-life future turtle was still thoughtfully considering both options. The lighted creature had been doing this for many centuries, and they could recognize that this ability to calculate and weigh choices would serve this particular being well in his future life.

"However," the creature continued, "although you will be an outsider to both humans and turtles, you will not be alone. You will be given your soulmate right from the start."

His contemplation regarding the two words suddenly came to a halt as his consciousness was suddenly jolted with the image of sharp, bright green eyes.

 _There he was_. That's who Leo was missing. The pain of missing _him_ grew more defined now that he had those eyes to focus on. There was a warm smirk now aimed at him. And the sensation of warm, familiar fingers sliding over his skin. His mind shuddered with want.

The lighted creature nodded and began to speak again. "Yes. Him. He will always be there to love and guard over you, as you will love and guard over him. A necessity because there will be much adversity in this life choice. You will have the potential to be a hero. But you will not be guaranteed a long life in that setting. There will be many battles, wars, injuries, and heartache."

Leonardo heard what the creature was saying. The words rolled over him in prickly waves. But those green eyes didn't leave his mind for a second.

"Battles and wars," Leo said slowly, "but I'd still have him?"

"Yes."

"That's the one I choose. Please send me there."

"I believe that is a wise choice," the creature said as the light in front of Leo began to dim, "since that is the one he chose as well."

* * *

Leonardo startled awake with a loud gasp and a jolt upright. He struggled with the sheets wrapped around his waist in the darkness, suddenly feeling constrained in the space.

"Leo?"

Leo twisted when he heard that sleep-filled voice and stared down at the large turtle who had been right by his side over the past thirty-six years. He reached out – and was thankful to find he actually had a form and a hand for which could accomplish this goal – and shook Raphael's shoulder until Raph was forced to blearily open his eyes.

Leo stopped shaking him at that. All he needed was to see those bright green eyes shining up at him through the darkness and suddenly his lungs remembered how to work. He drew in a few deep breaths.

Raphael frowned at his sudden, erratic breathing and pulled on Leo's arm until the other turtle slid back down into their bed and curled against him.

"Yer okay," Raphael rumbled as he pulled Leo even closer and began to trace over the patterns of Leo's shell in a soothing manner. "Yer okay," he repeated as he felt Leo's muscles relent and relax against him. "I'm here," he said as Leo's breaths began to finally slow.

"Yes," Leo said, the distant event he'd seen in his dream already wisping away from his mind. "Because I'll always choose you."

Half of Raph's mouth quirked up in a soft smile as he cupped Leo's face and lifted it so he could kiss him slowly and with purpose before replying.

"Me too."

* * *

 **A/N** : This chapter was an idea I had a _long_ time ago - as a serious prelude for this series - although I just never worked it out enough to write it. However, when I saw the **Leo/Raph Week** prompt, "I'm here" – I finally decided to give this idea a try.

Side note – I marked these side stories (and the "After the Catch" one-shot storyline) as "complete" – however – I may come back from time to time and add additional one-shots as they come to me.

Also, if you're interested, I have a Tumblr just for turtle posting – reader115-tmnt – and there are two other short Leo/Raph drabbles listed there that I haven't posted anywhere else for the prompts, "Secret" and "Return".


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